Naruto: The Lunar Knight
by castlecrasher009
Summary: When Uzumaki Naruto is banished from his world at a young age, he is discovered and adopted by the Tsukino family and begins to live a life he all ways wished for. Now a young teen, Naruto will discover that there is much more to himself as he becomes the male senshi, The Lunar Knight. Rated T for language and fighting. Naruto x harem.
1. New World, New Home, New Beginning

Naruto: The Lunar Knight

A Naruto/Sailor Moon Crossover Fan Fiction

Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto and Sailor Moon is owned by Naoko Takeuchi.

I do not own either.

Overview: When Uzumaki Naruto is banished from his world at a young age, he is discovered and adopted by the Tsukino family and begins to live a life he all ways wished for. Now a young teen, Naruto will discover that there is much more to himself as he becomes the male senshi Lunar Knight. Along with his adopted sister Usagi as Sailor Moon, and the other senshi, Naruto will fight the evil that threatens to destroy his new home and family.

Chapter One: New World, New Home, New Beginning.

It was a rainy day in Juuban, a rural district of Tokyo, Japan. The residents of the city were running about in their daily lives, commuting to work, running errands, shopping, all while coping with the rain that comes from time to time. Among those who were walking along the sidewalk was the Tsukino family, a typical Japanese couple with their two young children, well….you can call them typical if you don't include the menagerie of different hair colors. The man of the household was one Tsukino Kenji, a tall man with black hair cut at ear level, brown eyes and wears a pair of black framed glasses. A typical salary man, Kenji worked at a magazine company as a reporter, earning a living for himself and his family. Usually he was hard at work though that day he was enjoying a break with his family. Walking along side him under the umbrella that Kenji was holding was Tsukino Ikuko, a model housewife with curly purple hair that flowed down her back with brown eyes like her husband. Cradled in Ikuko's arms was one year old Shingo, a small boy with brown hair and brown eyes matching his parents. The boy was sound asleep in his mother's arms as they walked down the sidewalk. The last member of the Tsukino family was a little girl by the name of Usagi, a young five year old with blond hair done up into two large balls that one could describe as meatballs with the ends of her hair trailing down in ponytails to her ankles. Her blue eyes along with her hair made her stand out in the family as being very different from the usual traits of the Tsukino. Usagi sported a pink rain jacket, boots, and umbrella to match and the family moved along from their evening of family dining and their return trip to home.

Usagi was enjoying the rain as she trotted along from puddle to puddle, making sure to jump in them all as she went. Kenji noticed that his daughter was moving along a little bit quicker then he was comfortable with since she was starting to pull away from the group.

"Usagi, don't get too far ahead now. Wait for your mother and I to catch up." Kenji said calling out to his energetic child.

Usagi stopped where she was, turned around and answered her father with a cheery smile.

"Ok, Papa."

Ikuko turned her head and smiled at her husband and spoke.

"Dearest, you know you don't always have to keep her so close to you. You should let her enjoy herself. You know that you're only a child once."

Kenji sighed and looked at his lovely wife. "I know honey, but she is my daughter so of course I worry about her getting hurt or lost. I just want to make sure she stays safe."

"Of course dear, but that doesn't mean that you should keep her by your side all the time. Allow her to explore a bit from time to time." Ikuko responded as they caught up with Usagi and the girl resumed her quest to squash all the water goblins in the puddles.

"I guess your right, but still I want her to stay close to us." Kenji then looked down at his young son. "Shingo sure seems content."

Ikuko looked down and gave a motherly smile to the baby snoozing in her arms.

"After that bottle I gave him at dinner time, it's no wonder he's sleeping."

"He sure can eat a lot."

"Well, he is your son after all."

Kenji scratched the back of his head. "Hehe. Good point."

It was at that moment that the sound of trash cans being pushed over and into each other drew their attention forward. No more then fifteen feet ahead of them a small boy came stumbling out of an ally way in a daze. The way he walked was a clear indication that the boy was in pain. The child got halfway across the sidewalk before collapsing onto the cold wet concrete. The Tsukino couple let out a gasp as they witnessed the boy fall down. The family quickly rushed over to the boy's side and Kenji turned the boy to look at his face and lifted him up off the sidewalk. Ikuko looked at the boy with concern and Usagi looked on with a worried expression.

The boy looked to be about the same age as Usagi with spiky blond hair and blue eyes though they were a tad bit darker tint then the girl's was, but the most prominent feature was the six birthmarks adorning his face, three marks on each cheek that looked like whiskers making him look fox-like. His clothes were in tatters and soaked with rain and his body was covered in dirt and blood.

"Son, are you alright? Can you hear me? Speak to me." Kenji spoke out to the boy he held in his arms.

The boy responded by cracking his eyes open and speaking in a whisper.

"Hel…help…me." The blond spoke before closing his eyes again and falling into unconsciousness.

Kenji cursed under his breathe. "He's pretty bad. We need to get him to a hospital."

Kenji reached behind him and pulled out his cell phone and proceeded to contact emergency services. Ikuko look very concerned about the young boy. She had to wonder what a child his age was doing out in the rain all alone and why he was so badly injured. She looked around to see if anyone was looking for him but it appeared that they were the only ones on the street at the time. As she looked at the young boy lying on the ground, she noticed the similarity between the boy and her own daughter, Usagi. Just imagining her little girl in this state made her shiver. It was not long before the paramedics arrived and the boy was placed on a gurney and pulled inside the ambulance. Being concerned for the boy as well as being asked to come along to give a statement about the incident, the Tsukino family boarded the ambulance and everyone was on their way to the nearest hospital.

- Juuban Secondary General Hospital -

The Tsukino family was waiting patiently in the waiting area of the E.R. ward, hoping to find out the condition of the young boy whom they had rescued. It had been nearly half an hour since they had arrived and the boy was wheeled into the E.R. as the hospital staff started to assess the extent of his injuries and begin treating them. Kenji sat in deep thought as he held Usagi, said girl was sitting in her fathers lap thinking about the boy that she saw. Ikuko sat beside them still cradling the sleeping Shingo, the child had stirred during the ambulance ride and was a tad unsettled by the current events. Ikuko had finally managed to calm him down and back to sleep. She too was worried about the boy they had saved and wondered just where in the world he had come from and where his parents where.

'_Who in the world would leave a child out there in the cold rain?' _The thought ran through her mind as she waited.

Usagi looked up to her father and spoke "Papa, is that boy going to be alright?"

Kenji broke away from his thoughts and looked at his only daughter with a smile. "He will be just fine, sweetie. The people here are taking good care of him." Kenji assured his daughter with a rub on the head to which the girl responded with a smile. The man then went back into thought as he recalled the sight of the boy when he first saw him. The boy was covered extensively with several cuts and bruises. Kenji had seen wounds like that on children and he had a suspicion of what or rather _who_ might have caused them. Thoughts of that happening to any child always angered him and this time was no exception as a slight scowl appeared on his face.

It was not long before the family was approached by one of the hospital doctors. The doctor was a woman with deep blue hair and eyes with her hair cut at neck length. She wore a dress that fit her profession as a physician, while also wearing a doctors overcoat completing her attire. She walked up to the group and introduced herself.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Mizuno Saeko, I understand that you are the ones that found that young boy, correct?"

The Tsukino couple nodded. "Yes, we found the boy while we were returning home after our outing." Kenji informed the doctor.

"Is the child going to be alright?" Ikuko asked as the doctor flipped through several charts and pages of notes she had attached to a clipboard.

"I believe he will be just fine after a little rest, we have treated the injuries on him and the x-rays we took show no broken bones or internal bleeding. He will be able to leave the hospital in a day or so." Saeko informed.

The Tsukino couple let out a sigh of relief. Usagi also felt relieved that the boy was going to get better soon. Kenji then decided to ask Dr. Mizuno a question.

"Dr. Mizuno, I know that it's not really my business to ask but how do you think the boy got those injuries?"

The doctor looked at Kenji. "It is against policy to discuss information concerning a patient with those who are not related or do not have patient consent."

"I understand that. However, those injuries he had were too numerous to be accidental, and we can rule out an animal attack since those were not bite or claw marks. I doesn't take a genius to figure out what was responsible for hurting that boy."

Saeko saw the scowl on Mr. Tsukino's face when he finished the sentence. Being a doctor for many years she had seen her fair share of injuries and could determine how they where inflicted. As soon as she saw the child she could tell that this was a case of child abuse, and it was cases like that which riled her tremendously. As a mother herself, she found the idea of willingly hurting a child to be absolutely inhuman.

"Alright, since you were the ones that found him and as a fellow parent, I guess I can tell you what I _believe_ to be the cause." Saeko conceded as the Kenji waited to confirm his suspicion.

"In my opinion, the injuries that the child received indicate he has suffered from long term abuse. The cuts and bruising appear to caused by both sharp and blunt objects, and the light scarring on him show that he has been subjected to injuries like these for quite some time. Who exactly is responsible for this is unknown, but I hope that once the boy wakes up he will be able to tell us who did this to him."

Kenji nodded in agreement, the boy may not be his own but he was not going to sit by and let such a cruel act go unpunished. If he ever got a hold of the ones who did this to him he would insure that they would regret ever touching the boy.

Ikuko was stunned at what she had heard. The idea of hurting a child even accidentally appalled her. She had caringly and lovingly tended to her children and did everything she could to insure that they were healthy and happy. For someone to willingly harm that boy and do so over a long period of time was an act that went against everything she believed as a mother. She wished that she could do something for the poor boy to ease the pain he was no doubt experiencing, both physically and mentally.

It was then that one of the nurses approached Dr. Mizuno and addressed her. "Doctor, we have just moved the patient into the recovery area, we believe that he will be awakening shortly."

Saeko nodded to the nurse. "Thank you for informing me. I will check on him when he wakes up."

The nurse bowed to Saeko and returned to the nurses station to resume her duties. Saeko then turned back to the family and spoke. "Well, shall we go and greet the boy when he awakes? I'm sure he'll want to know who it was who saved him."

The couple nodded and stood up. The Tsukino family and Saeko then proceed to the recovery area to await the awakening of the boy who could possibly give them some answers to the many questions they had.

- E.R. Recovery Room 14 -

The boy was lying in a hospital bed in one of the recovery rooms of the hospital. His body was cleaned up and covered in bandages as the medicine and disinfectants went to work on his wounds. The boy was still unconscious but was showing signs of awakening as his head slowly turned from one side to the other. As he began to stir, his mind started to recall various memories, none more so vivid as his most recent, the very event that led him to the situation he was now in…

- Flashback - The Elemental Nations - Konohagakure - 2 hours ago -

The young boy was currently walking back to his home alongside a tall old man with grey hair, a well wrinkled face and a gouty. He was dressed in a crimson kimono with a white coat and a pyramid shaped hat with the symbol for hokage or "Fire Shadow" written on the front. The old man was Hiruzen Sarutobi, third hokage of Konohagakure and the current escort of the young boy after yet another unpleasant encounter with the villages more overzealous members. As the boy nursed his newest set of bruises the old man turned to him.

"It seems you had another hectic day today, Naruto. I must say that with all of the fights you get into, I'm surprised you can still walk." Sarutobi spoke while smiling to the blond boy.

Naruto hissed as he rubbed one of the bruises on his left arm. "Ah, I'm alright Jiji, it will take more than those guys can throw at me to keep me down." Naruto replied as he gave a cocky grin to the hokage. "I just wish I knew why they always try to beat me up and call me names."

Sarutobi sighed as he walked with the blond child. He knew exactly why the villagers taunted and attacked Naruto every chance they could get. Naruto was the unfortunate target of the village's aggression because he was the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko, the nine-tailed demon fox. When the nine-tail attacked the village five years ago it was sealed within Naruto as a means to contain and control it. This event earned Naruto the village's hatred and malice since they saw the boy as the reincarnation of the demon. Sarutobi had hoped that the village would honor and praise Naruto as the sacrifice that contained the beast and would hold him in high regard, but instead he was ostracized, abandoned and ridiculed. No one cared for him and he was forced to grow up without love or affection and had to endure the village's harsh treatment as well as frequent beatings. Sarutobi sighed again as they continued their walk towards Naruto's home. He felt great sympathy for the young child and marveled at his strength for being able to endure such treatment for so long at such a young age. He wished with all his heart that Naruto would find someone who would give him the love and care that he so rightfully deserved.

Naruto and Sarutobi eventually reached the boy's home. Since Naruto had no parents, he naturally lived alone with Sarutobi being his only visitor when the old man was not tending to his duties as Hokage, his most tedious and mind numbing duty being the hokage's evilest of all enemies, paperwork. The hokage led the boy inside and tended to his newest set of war wounds. As soon as Naruto was bandaged up and given a _proper_ meal, since Sarutobi insisted that Naruto not practically live on instant ramen, he led the blond to his bed for the night. Sarutobi tucked the boy in and started for the door.

"Jiji, thank you for always taking care of me. I wish I had parents who were as nice as you." Naruto spoke as Sarutobi walked out the door and turned back to smile at the blond.

"Your very welcome, Naruto. And don't worry, I'm sure that one day you will find a couple that will show you the same kindness that I have shown you. Just keep wishing for it with all your heart and I'm sure you will find them someday."

With that Sarutobi closed the door and left Naruto to dream of better days. Sarutobi left the home and began to walk back to the hokage tower, unaware that both he and Naruto had been watched from the shadows as a man dressed in black shinobi armor while wearing a animal mask now began to creep towards the home of the unsuspecting blond.

Naruto was sleeping peacefully, dreaming of having the kind of family that other children possessed. The times he had watched the families of children his age had made him envious of the closeness they showed to one another. He longed to feel the warmth of the embrace between a parent and child, even the joy of having a sibling was desired by the boy and he wished that he could one day be part of a family just like the ones he watched from the shadows that hid him from the sight of the cruel villagers. His blissful slumber was interrupted by the sound of shattered glass and a heavy object hitting the floor of his home. Naruto shot up from his bed to find a man wearing a animal mask staring at him from a prone position on the floor. The man suddenly lunged forward and tried to grab the boy, however Naruto was quick to evade the man as he rolled to the side then dashed towards the door in an attempt to escape. The masked man however was much faster than the boy as he easily closed the distance between them and grabbed Naruto from behind.

"LET GO! LET ME GO YOU CREEP!" Naruto shouted out as he struggled to escape his assailants grasp. Seeing as his strength alone could not free him from the man, Naruto decided to bite down on the man's arm in an attempt to free himself.

The man cried out in pain as Naruto bit down with all of his strength. "YOU DAMN FOX-BRAT, THAT HURT." The man hit Naruto causing him the roll across the floor, the broken glass on the floor cut the boy's skin leaving a small trail of blood as Naruto rolled. The masked man walked over to the boy and glared at him. "I'm going to make you pay for hurting me." The man spoke as he proceeded to kick the helpless boy, adding even more injuries and pain to the poor child. Once satisfied that the boy was no longer going to fight back the masked man picked up the blond and fled into the night.

Inside a large room hidden from the eyes of the world a man with a bandaged face waited patiently. His demeanor showed that this was a man who had dark intentions. Silently a masked man appeared in the room with a bloody and beaten boy under his arm.

"Lord Danzo, I have brought you the boy as you have ordered." The masked man spoke as he laid the boy down on the stone table in the center of the room.

Danzo turned to his personal ANBU shinobi and nodded. "I take it no one saw you abduct the boy. No one must interfere with this ritual." Danzo spoke as he walked over to the table that Naruto was now laid upon.

"Of course, my lord."

Danzo looked at Naruto with a level of disgust. Like the other villagers, he viewed the boy as the incarnation of the fox that destroyed his home five years ago. "I see you decided to do a little torture on the boy before we get rid of him." Danzo said, noting the fresh cuts and bruises on the blond while placing a immobility paper seal on the boys chest.

"Ha, It's nothing the fox-brat doesn't deserve." The ANBU shinobi replied.

"Indeed."

Naruto then began to stir. The young blond opened his eyes and took in his new surroundings. From what he could tell, he was in a large room with stone walls with several candles bathing the room in a soft glow. He was lying on a stone table with a seal array marked out in a pattern on the surface surrounding him. Naruto then tried to move but found that he could move his body as a seal tag was attached to him. As he tried harder to move, he heard a voice speak to him.

"It is useless to try to move. Your body has been immobilized by that seal."

Naruto turned to find a man wearing bandages over his head glaring at him. Just behind him was the masked ANBU that had broken into his home and kidnapped him. The way the two of them looked and the fact that he was immobilized and being prepared for some type of ritual did not sit well with the blond youth.

"Why did you to bring me here? I didn't do anything to you. LET ME GO!" Naruto pleaded with the two men, fearful that they were going to seriously hurt him. However, the men were unmoved by the boys cries as they moved into position at the circle.

"You can cry all you want to, it still won't help you since we are going to deal with you permanently. After today, you will no longer exist." Danzo spoke to the boy.

Naruto's face went pale as he tried to break away from the seal that held with renewed vigor. Try as he might, he could not move a finger. Naruto's eyes watered up as he realized that there was no escape for him.

"Why are you doing this to me? I've never hurt anyone. Please, let me go. I'm scared. Let me go." Naruto begged as tears streamed down his face.

Danzo just glared at the child with hatred. He was not going to be swayed by this creature's plea for mercy. It was then that four other ANBU shinobi appeared in the room and bowed to Danzo.

"Everything is ready, my lord. The array has been completed and there is no one near the area." One of the arriving ANBU spoke.

Danzo turned to the four shinobi and nodded. "Excellent, take your places, we are beginning the ritual."

Danzo and the five ANBU took their places at the corners of the seal array. Naruto continued to cry and struggle against the paper seal while the shinobi prepared themselves. The group then proceeded to make a series of hand signs as Danzo spoke out the name for each sign.

"Ne, Tora, Uma, Mi, Saru, Inu, I, Tori, Tatsu, U, Ushi, Ne, Uma, Saru, I, Inu, Hitsuji."

The seal array then began to glow while Naruto thrashed about in a state of panic.

"Jigen no tsuiho jutsu." (1)

The whole room was then bathed in a bright light as the seal's power was fully activated. Naruto screamed out in pain as he could feel every part of him being ripped apart piece by piece. He could feel him self fading away as the light in the room became brighter and brighter until his vision was completely blinded by a sea of white.

- End Flashback -

Naruto shot up from his position on the bed he was currently occupying, panting heavily as he tried to make sense of his situation. He was in a white room with curtains closing him off from most of the room, he saw that he was wearing a white gown, covered in bandages with a tube of some kind stuck to his left arm running up to a bag of clear liquid being held up on a rod and wires from his right arm and chest leading to a device that had a green line that jumped up and down and made a beep every second or so. Naruto looked at himself, making sure that he was all there with the memory of the ritual still fresh in his mind. He could not believe he was still alive, as he had feared that the ritual was supposed to destroy him and he breathed easier to see himself in one piece, albeit a little worse for wear with all the bandages on his body. Seeing that he was fine at the moment, Naruto turned his attention back to his surroundings. From what he could tell he was in a hospital since he had visited one a few times in the past what with all the beatings he had endured in his youth, but this place felt strange to him. It looked nothing like the hospitals that he had been in previously and the weird machines and other objects he had never seen before made him uneasy about his situation.

"_Just where the heck am I?"_ Naruto thought as he continued to look about the room.

Suddenly, the curtain was pulled back to reveal a blue haired woman in a white coat looking at him. Naruto turned to look at the female doctor and blushed a bit as this woman was pretty in his opinion. Right behind her a group came into view as a man with black hair with glasses, a woman with long purple hair holding a baby, and a young girl with blond hair followed the doctor into the room. The doctor walked up to his bed and smiled.

"Hello there young man, I'm glad to see your finally awake. I'm Doctor Mizuno Saeko, can you tell me what your name is?" The bluenette doctor asked the blond boy as the group following her sat down in the available chairs.

The boy looked about at the group of people he suddenly found himself with. He studied them all for a brief moment before answering the doctors question. "M-My name is Uzumaki Naruto, ma'am."

Saeko jotted the name down on one the clipboard holding all of the information she had on the blond boy and looked back at the boy still holding her smile. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Uzumaki-san. Can you tell me what happened to you and where you live?"

The Tsukino couple listened in closely so they could understand what happened to the boy they found.

"Well, I live in a small home that Jiji gave to me since I don't have a home of my own, but a guy in a mask broke in and took me to a place where a man in bandages said he was going to get rid of me, then I saw a bright light and that's all I can remember." Naruto replied as Saeko wrote down the information he was supplying to her. Naruto then decided to ask a question of his own. "Where exactly am I, Ma'am?"

Saeko looked up from the clipboard to answer the boy. "You are in Juuban Secondary General Hospital."

"Juuban? I've never heard that name before, where is that?"

Saeko stopped her writing and looked at the blond with confusion. "Juuban is a prefect of Tokyo." She replied.

"Tokyo? What kind of a name for a village is that?"

Saeko now looked at Naruto completely dumbfounded. How could this boy NOT know about the nations capital. Thinking in line of the questions, she decided to test one more question before answering the boys own.

"At least tell me that you know what Japan is."

Naruto thought about it for a second before saying "Nope, not a clue."

Saeko slumped down until her hands were on the bed as she tried to comprehend the fact that this boy did not know things that even kids his age would consider basic knowledge. The Tsukino couple was in a similar state of mind as they were questioning the boys education, or lack there of.

Saeko finally looked up to the boy and spoke to him in a serious tone. "Uzumaki-san, how could you not know what your home country is? Hadn't you parents taught you anything?"

It was then that Naruto's face became sullen and downcast as he spoke in what was barely over a whisper. "I don't have any parents."

THAT got the attention of the rooms occupants real quick. Saeko stared at Naruto for a second before snapping herself out of her shock and spoke. "Wait, didn't you say you had a grandfather?"

Naruto looked up and replied "The old man isn't related to me, although he is the only thing I have that is even remotely close to a parent, but he's usually busy with work and I don't see him very often, usually he just gives me some money and checks up on me from time to time, but…." Naruto drew his legs up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them while looking back down again. "…I don't have anyone to take care of me…I'm…all alone."

Talk about tugging on a heart string. Everyone in the room was suddenly feeling very sympathetic for the boy and wanted to do something for him, no more so then Ikuko who's maternal instincts where now running in sixth gear with overdrive. Hearing the child saying he had no parents and seeing the evidence of his treatment by people made her want to do everything in her power to give this child any amount of happiness she could possibly give him.

Kenji was feeling really bad for the boy since he had seen some cases of orphans living on the street and he didn't want to see Naruto end up like those poor kids with nowhere to turn. Sure there were orphanages that took kids in when they could. But most of them were overcrowded or were not ideal for taking care of children. Kenji then recalled the wounds he saw on Naruto and wanted to know something about them.

"Uzumaki-san, could you tell me who were the ones who gave you those injuries?" Kenji spoke up gaining the attention of the blond boy.

Naruto looked at the man before looking back down with an expression of pain on his face.

"Everyone."

The adults in the room went wide eyed from the statement. "What do you mean by 'everyone,' sweetie." Ikuko asked.

"Everyone, everyone hates me." Naruto started to cry as he recalled the pain he felt when he was being treated badly, getting beaten up, and the worst of all, being isolated from everyone.

"Everyone calls me bad names, they hurt me, and they ignore me when I need someone. I can't make any friends because the grown-ups won't let the other kids play with me. Nobody likes me. Nobody cares for me." Naruto cried as he pulled his legs closer to his chest and buried his head into his arms. "I keep hearing them call me fox-brat or fox-kid or some other bad names. I hate it. Why can't anyone treat me nicely. Why doesn't anyone care for me?"

Saeko felt her heart sink seeing the boy in that state, she could tell he was hurt not just physically, but emotionally as well. There were some wounds that no amount of medicine or medical technology could mend. She then decided she was going to do everything she could to help the child overcome the pains in his life.

Kenji felt terrible for Naruto, he wanted to do something for the boy as well as find the ones who had the nerve to treat a child so badly. As he wondered what could possess people to do such things he recalled that the boy had whisker like birth marks on his cheeks, giving him a fox-like appearance. Perhaps the people where superstitious, believing him to be a fox demon or something like that, however that was no excuse to treat a little boy that way and swore that if he ever found the ones who did this….

As for Ikuko, she had heard enough. This poor boy was crying out for someone to show him love and affection and both her mind and heart were now set. She knew exactly what she was going to do and nothing was going to stop her.

Ikuko turned to her husband and spoke to the brooding man. "Kenji dear, can I speak with you outside for a moment?"

Kenji snapped out of his thoughts and looked at his wife curiously. "Huh? Oh, uh, sure honey."

Kenji and Ikuko stood up and turned to the door. "Dr. Mizuno, could you keep an eye on Usagi while we talk about something real quick?" Ikuko asked since Usagi had conveniently fallen asleep shortly after they had arrived in the room.

Saeko looked up at the purpleette from where she had sat down beside the boy and rubbed his back to comfort the still crying boy. "Of course, Mrs. Tsukino."

- Outside Room 14 -

"You want us to WHAT?!" Kenji all but screamed out after hearing his wife's declaration.

"I said I want us to adopt Uzumaki Naruto." Ikuko stated again to insure that she and her husband were on the same page.

Kenji stared at his wife in disbelief before asking "W-why? Why us? I'm sure that someone would happily take care of him." Kenji felt the need to do something for the boy, but not something as big as adopting him into the family.

Ikuko spoke with conviction. "Dear, The boy has gone through a terrible life, he needs parents who can show him the love he needs, and I can't think of anyone who can do this better than the two of us. He needs to be loved now, and we are the ones who are going to give it to him."

"But honey, we already have Usagi and Shingo to take care of, and our money is already being strained just with the four of us. I'm sure that someone will come along and take Naruto in. I think you should kind of step back and look….at….." Kenji tried to reason with his wife on the subject but was stopped in his tracks when Ikuko gave Kenji a very rare deadpan look that showed she was not taking no for an answer. Ikuko was always a sweet and caring woman and rarely ever argued with her husband on matters, but when she did have her mind set on something and was not going to give it up, she would put on this look and anyone on the receiving end knew that they needed to shut up, listen and agree to the young housewife.

Ikuko stood there holding her expression for a minute, making sure that Kenji got the point that she was not going to back down until she finally spoke with total conviction in her voice as she slowly spoke the words "Kenji. We. Are. Adopting. Him."

Kenji tried to counter but knew that it was useless when his wife was like this. After a few moments Kenji finally accepted defeat as he sighed and looked at his wife with a small smile. "Alright, we'll adopt him. I guess I could ask my boss for a raise to cover."

Ikuko smiled brightly and kissed her husband on the cheek. "Thank you, dearest."

Kenji and Ikuko went back inside the room where Saeko had just laid Naruto back down so he could rest more and told the doctor of their intention to take the boy into their family. Saeko was relieved to hear this as she too was hoping to help Naruto find a good home with foster parents who would care for him. She was very tempted to take the boy in herself, however she already had a daughter and her job often kept her away from her so taking care of a boy who needed to be given a lot of attention would have been very difficult for her so this was a welcome turn of events for her. She informed them that it would take several days to make the arrangements for him to be adopted since they had to go through child services in order to make it official, but she assured them that they would be able to adopt him as soon as possible.

- The Elemental Nations-Konohagakure -

Meanwhile, Sarutobi sat in his office brooding over the current situation. He had been returning to his office when a shinobi guard informed him of the disturbance and kidnapping of Uzumaki Naruto by an ANBU who was known to be loyal to Shimura Danzo, which when Sarutobi realized that when Danzo was involved it was not for charity for the blond boy. He immediately mobilized a small security team to rescue Naruto from whatever Danzo had planned for him, however, just when they arrived to liberate the abducted youth they had made it in time to witness the completion of Danzo's ritual and the complete vanishing of Uzumaki Naruto from the Elemental Nations. Sarutobi immediately had Danzo and all of his ANBU collaborators arrested and had them imprisoned for kidnapping, use of a forbidden jutsu and the disappearance of Naruto. When Sarutobi asked Danzo why he made Naruto vanish off the face of earth, Danzo replied that he was serving Konoha by permanently removing the Kyuubi no Yoko in a way that would insure that it would never be resurrected again. Sarutobi knew that Danzo was among those that believed that Naruto was an incarnation of the Kyuubi, however he never thought that Danzo would do what he did. Now Sarutobi was doing everything he could to locate and return the missing blond who was like a grandchild to him. He had recovered the details of the jutsu that Danzo had used and studied them to find out exactly where he had sent Naruto but the scrolls gave no indication of where the destination of the jutsu was. Sarutobi sighed as he awaited one of his loyal ninjas to return from investigating the circle that was used in the ritual that sent Naruto away to another dimension. Sarutobi could not but worry about the boy he had watched over for the past five years and hope that Naruto was alright, wherever he was.

It was then that the shinobi in question arrived.

Hatake Kakashi arrived in the Hokage's office after being sent to examine the circle that teleported Naruto to see if there was a way to reverse the jutsu and bring the blond back. He was a jonin level shinobi with silver hair worn upwards in long spikes with his hitae-ate worn on his forehead to keep his hair up as well as cover his left eye. He also wore a face mask that kept his lower face covered. His clothing consisted of the traditional green jonin uniform worn by the shinobi of the village.

Kakashi bowed down to the aged Hokage and spoke. "Lord Hokage, I have finished investigating the scene where Danzo performed the ritual."

Sarutobi looked up and spoke to the jonin. "What have you learned about the seal used to send Uzumaki Naruto away? Have you found a means to summon him back?"

Kakashi closed his exposed eye and replied to the Hokage's question. "No my Lord, from what my team and I have been able to learn from the scrolls we discovered in the room, the jutsu was designed to send Uzumaki to another plane of existence separate from our own. Unfortunately, the scrolls do not specify where Uzumaki was sent, and since all traces of his chakra have completely disappeared, it is impossible to reverse summon him back to the village. I am sorry Lord Hokage, but we must consider Uzumaki Naruto to be lost to us."

Sarutobi was saddened by this. He had hoped to undo the damage that Danzo had done and bring the boy he considered to be a grandson back, but no it seemed that this would not be possible. The Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko, Uzumaki Naruto, was gone.

"Thank you for investigating, Hatake Kakashi. We will continue to look into ways to recover Naruto until all resources have been used. You may return to your assigned duties."

Kakashi bowed before disappearing in a whirlwind of leaves, leaving Sarutobi to think about the events that had transpired. Sarutobi turned and looked out the window to see the sun rising from the horizon. He thought about the boy that he had taken care of for the past few years and imagined what could have been the life for the blond had he not been banished from this world. He had hoped to watch the boy grow up and learn the ways of the ninja like many of the village's youth. He had seen much promise in the boy and wanted to see just how far he would go in the world of the shinobi and maybe someday rise to become a Hokage himself. Now it would seem that this was no longer possible. Sarutobi hoped that wherever Naruto was now, he was safely in a better place and prayed to the gods that in this strange new world he was in, he would at last find peace.

- Juuban, Tokyo - 5 days later -

The Tsukino family was traveling down the street in the family car on their way to the Mizuno house to pick up the newest addition to their family. A few days before the Tsukino couple had submitted their formal request with child services to adopt Uzumaki Naruto, and with Doctor Saeko Mizuno's support and influence with the service as she was a doctor that had ties with child services, the family was cleared and approved for taking the boy into their house and family name. After Naruto was discharged from the hospital a day after he was brought in, which Saeko commented on the boys healing ability as being nothing short of amazing, the good doctor decided to take temporary custody of the blond while the authorities processed the Tsukino families adoption request. This gave Saeko time to observe Naruto to see if his abuse had left him with any psychological disorders of which Saeko noted that he was perfectly fine, much to her relief.

When The Tsukino couple had gotten the word that the adoption was approved, they quickly made arrangements with Saeko to pick up Naruto after they purchased some necessities for the child, such as furniture and supplies to suit the five year old child, and since they happened to have a spare bedroom available at the time, they quickly converted it into what would be the boy's new bedroom. After all of the preparations were made for the family newcomer, they left to pick up Naruto. Usagi was sitting in her seat behind Ikuko as Shingo was sleeping away in his child seat behind Kenji, who was driving the vehicle to it's destination.

"Papa, where are we going?" Usagi asked as she kicked her feet back and forth during the ride. She had been perplexed by the sudden activity in the house as her parents worked on making the spare room that used to hold the families unused items into a sleeping quarter over the course of a day and found herself riding in the car with her family at the time.

Kenji looked up into the rear view mirror to see his only daughter and smiled at his pride and joy.

"We have a special surprise for you, Usagi." Kenji spoke wanting to give his daughter some wonderment before revealing the intention of their trip. "How would you like to have another brother, one your age?" he asked.

Usagi's face lit up with the thought. "Really, I'd like that. I always wanted someone to play with."

"Well guess what, we're on our way right now to get him. We're going to have another member of our family, Usagi, one that can keep you company." Kenji informed the blond child as he turned down another street.

Ikuko turned in her seat to look at Usagi and smiled as well. "That's right, sweetie, our family is going to get a little bigger and you get to have someone who can play with you."

Usagi became excited as she thought of having a playmate she could interact with while her mother and father were busy with their work, Ikuko's being around the house and Kenji's at his job. She could get kind of lonely having no one around to play and laugh with.

It was not long before they arrived at their destination as their car pulled up in front of the home of Mizuno Saeko. Kenji and Ikuko got out of the vehicle and walked to the front door of the house while Usagi was asked to wait in the car with Shingo since her parents told her they were not going to be away for very long. The couple walked up to the house and rang the door bell. They did not have to wait long when Saeko opened the door and greeted the Tsukino couple with a warm smile.

"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Tsukino, it's nice to see you again."

The Tsukino couple bowed and returned the greeting.

"Hello to you as well Doctor Mizuno, we are here to pick up Naruto, is he ready to go?" Kenji asked.

"Yes, he's just saying goodbye to my daughter before he leaves."

It was then that Naruto came down the stairs and stopped beside Saeko to look at the couple who had come to get him. Saeko turned and addressed the blond boy. "Naruto, these are the people I told you about. They will be the ones taking care of you from now on."

Kenji and Ikuko bowed to the boy. "Hello Naruto, do you remember us?" Kenji asked as Ikuko gave the most heart filled smile she could give to her new adopted son.

Naruto nodded. "You were the ones that found me and got me to the hospital. Umm…..Thank you for saving me." Naruto replied sheepishly while offering a small bow.

Kenji returned the gesture with a small bow of his own. "It's not a problem, son. Anyone would have done the same. So, are you ready to start your new life with us?"

Naruto nodded his head. "I guess so." Naruto picked up a small bag of clothing and supplies Saeko had gotten him for his stay and turned to the doctor. "Thank you for taking care of me for a while." Naruto gave a respectful bow to Saeko in which she responded with one of her own.

"Your welcome Naruto, now if you need any help with anything, just call me, alright?"

Naruto nodded and bid the good doctor goodbye as he left the house for his new home in this new world he was in. Peaking out from behind the curtains of her second floor bedroom, Mizuno Ami looked at the blond boy that she had been living with for the last few days and watched as he was loaded into the car of the family that he was now going to be a part of. The little girl only knew Naruto for a short time but she had come to like the orphaned boy and had wished that he was able to stay and live with her and her mother, it was rather lonely being a only child and had really come to like having someone else to play with while her mother was working at the hospital. Naruto had promised her that he would come see her from time to time, and that made her feel a bit better as she watched the car Naruto was in pull away from the house.

Naruto found himself in the back seat of the Tsukino family car alongside a blond girl around his own age and a young boy no more than a year old snoozing in the car seat to his left. Usagi turned to the boy she sat beside and introduced herself.

"Hi, my name is Usagi, what's yours."

"Naruto." the boy answered as he looked at the energetic blond that he sat beside. He noticed that the two of them had very similar features, the only difference was his color tones were a bit darker.

Usagi smiled. "Nice to meet you, Naruto. Are you going to be my new brother?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

"Hurray, I've always wanted a playmate." Usagi cheered. "Can I call you Naruto-nii then?"

Naruto blushed a little at the affectionate suffix that Usagi had given him and replied, "Sure, I guess I can call you Usagi-neechan then, huh?"

"I really like that, I'm so happy to have you as a brother, Naruto-nii." Usagi cheerfully replied as she suddenly hugged Naruto causing the boy to blush even harder. He was not used to this much affection after being neglected and hated for so long.

Kenji and Ikuko smiled as they listened to the exchange in the backseat of the car. It seemed that their daughter had taken an instant liking to the boy, though they knew it would not be that difficult for her given her personality, she always could make friends easily. The trip back to the Tsukino house was rather uneventful other than the question and answer trading that was going on between the two youths, and soon the family made it's way back home. The family exited the vehicle and proceeded to the house, with Naruto bringing up the rear as he examined the exterior of the home. He found it to be quite nice as Kenji opened the front door and the rest of the family entered. Naruto found himself a bit reluctant and nervous as he approached the entrance of the house while the family waited patiently for him to enter.

"It's alright Naruto, come inside. This is your new home, dear." Ikuko sweetly spoke as Kenji nodded, Usagi smiled, and Shingo stared at the boy from his mothers arms. Naruto looked at the family that was in front of him, truly realizing that his wishes were finally coming true. Uzumaki Naruto, the orphaned boy that no one wanted, the child that was hated by all and was never given any kindness and compassion from anyone other than a select few, was finally getting a good home with a loving family. His eyes moistened as he took the last few steps forward and entered his new home.

"I'm…..I'm home." Naruto said as he was barely able to hold back the tears that he threatened to shed from happiness.

"Welcome home." The Tsukino's chorused as they welcomed Naruto into there house and family.

As the door to the Tsukino family home closed, a figure stood atop a house on the other side of the street. The person was a woman with long flowing green hair and wore a sailor style fuku and skirt, wielding a long staff shaped as a large key and had an ornate crystal ball on the top. The woman looked at the house and smiled.

"_So, he has finally arrived. Now destiny can move forward."_ The woman thought as she turned and began to walk away. "_Grow up strong, Uzumaki Naruto." _And with that, the woman disappeared into thin air.

- To be continued -

[Author's Notes]

This is my first time writing a fan fiction and I'd appreciate some constructive criticism to help me make this story a good one. I'd also like to hear a few idea's from you guys that I can work into the story, but keep in mind that it's up to me as to what goes into the story. Now as you noticed, Naruto is only 5 years old when he gets sent to the Sailor Moon universe, so he never receives any ninja training from Konoha, this does not mean he will not be able to use jutsu as I have plans for allowing him to use a few of his abilities as a ninja as well as his senshi powers. I plan on having him use a few of his signature jutsu such as his Kage Bushin and the Rasengan as well as the Rasenshuriken, as to where he learns these jutsu, that is something I will reveal later as I want to keep the story interesting. The sage mode will also be used, but will be a different type of sage mode as instead of nature, it will draw from a different source of energy, as to what, my little secret. The Kyuubi is still inside Naruto and will also play a roll in the story as well as Naruto's personal development. The story will be almost completely Sailor Moon canon, so I don't plan on having Konoha play much of a roll in this story, but if you want to see a few characters pop up from the Naruto universe, you can suggest them to me and I'll consider it. As for the hand signs and jutsu names I will keep them in their Japanese forms in the story but will explain their meanings here in the AN's, like this one….

(1) Jigen no tsuiho roughly translates to Dimensional Banishment. This is something I made up to explain how Naruto wound up in Juuban, so you won't find it in a jutsu list. The ritual and circle were also made up, but you probably figured that one out already :P

Now as for the pairings, I'm a harem fan, so you can already guess where this is going to go. Giggidy Giggidy Goo!

Next chapter…..Naruto is now 14 years old and attends the same classes as his sister Usagi. During a typical day for the two they come across a cat being bullied by some kids. How will saving this poor cat suddenly change the lives of Naruto and Usagi? (as if you guys don't already know.) Read for yourself in the next chapter- Sailors and Shadows, the Senshi are born.

Peace.


	2. Sailors and Shadows, The Senshi are Born

Chapter Two: Sailors and Shadows, The Senshi are born.

Beta by Alteris

"Naruto…..Naruto, wake up."

"Uughhhhnnn."

"Tsukino Uzumaki Naruto, wake up. You're going to be late for school."

"Ugh, alright mom, I'm up."

Naruto sat up in bed and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Giving a big yawn, he got up and went to preparing for another day in his life. The 14 year old boy stripped himself of his sleep wear and put on his school uniform. He then proceeded out of his room and into the bathroom for his daily hygiene, brushing his teeth, combing his hair, deodorant, the works. Afterwards, he made his way down stairs and into the kitchen where he was greeted by his mother, Ikuko. She was just finishing up breakfast for her children as well as the box lunches they would need later. Ikuko made sure that her children ate proper meals, especially Naruto, as she found out that the boy had an inhuman craving for ramen. When she learned that it was all the child ate before he was adopted she swore that she would have him eat more balanced meals so he would grow up healthy, and it was thanks to her that Naruto grew to 5'-8", a head taller than most boys his age.

"Morning, mom." Naruto greeted with a warm smile as he sat down at the table for his breakfast.

Ikuko turned around from the counter where she was reading the newspaper and returned the warm smile with one of her own. "Good morning, Naruto. Did you sleep good last night?"

Naruto yawned a little before replying to her question. "Not too bad, though I could use a little more." Naruto began to eat his food as his eyes drooped a little from the amount of sleep he had.

"Well you would have gotten a lot more sleep if you hadn't stayed up late reading manga. Both you and your sister have a bad habit of doing that on school nights." Ikuko stated in the matter-of-fact tone that mothers would use when they wanted to lecture their children on certain etiquette.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he knew she was right. He did have a habit of staying up late to read manga and he knew that he needed to stop doing that as it would make it easier for him to get up in the morning, but damn if those things weren't addicting.

It was then that Kenji came into the kitchen and greeted the two family members. "Morning honey, morning son." he said as he adjusted his tie while he walked over to kiss his wife and grab a piece of toast that Ikuko had prepared.

"Morning dear, off to work already?" Ikuko asked as she continued to read the paper.

"Yeah, I got a big day today at work so I'm heading out now." Kenji said as he munched down on the toast before heading for the door.

"Don't work too hard, dad." Naruto spoke up as he continued eating his morning meal.

Kenji turned back to his eldest son and smiled. "I won't Naruto. You have a good day at school and keep an eye on your sister, ok?" Kenji spoke as he headed out the door.

No sooner did Kenji leave when Shingo came scooting around the corner and into the kitchen, stopping beside Naruto. "Morning mom, morning bro. I see sis hasn't made it down yet." Shingo said as he grabbed some breakfast stuff to make a sandwich out of.

Naruto sighed a bit as he kept eating. "Nope, she'll probably be down at the last minute and getting herself ready in a frenzy like she usually does. In fact, she should be getting up right about…."

"UUGHAAAAA! OH NO, I'M GONNA BE LATE AGAIN!"

"…..now."

Shingo let out a sigh as he quickly downed his compact breakfast and headed for the door. Meanwhile Usagi was in that frenzy that Naruto talked about as she madly got herself dressed and ran downstairs and dashed past the kitchen.

"Mama. Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" Usagi asked as she furiously brushed her teeth.

Ikuko sighed. "I did sweetie, three times, but every time you said you were getting up."

"And you believed me? Oh, morning Naruto-nii." Usagi said as she feverishly worked to get herself ready.

"Morning, Usagi-neechan. Cutting it a little close again, aren't we?" Naruto teased as he finished his meal and got up.

"Hey, don't pick on me. You wake up late sometimes too, you know." Usagi shot back.

Naruto chuckled. "Yeah but not near as much as you do." Naruto then hugged his mother and took the boxed lunches that she made for the two of them and headed for the door. "Bye mom, see you after school. Come on Usagi-neechan, we'll be late if you don't hurry." Naruto called as he put his shoes on.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Usagi shouted as she finally made her way to the front door and threw her shoes on. "Bye mom." Usagi called out as she and Naruto left.

"Bye, dears. Have a good day." Ikuko called back and sighed as she looked at where the two had disappeared from. It had been over nine years since Naruto had literally fallen into their lives and he had come a long way from the hurt and distressed child that they had found. When he first started living with them, he was rather withdrawn and a bit skittish when interacting with the family, not surprising considering what he went through before winding up on the cold, wet streets that faithful day. It had taken a lot to finally break the shell he had erected around himself, but when they did it helped tremendously for healing him. Usagi was a big help as she was the only one who would get him to open up at times. There were times when a mother's embrace was needed, when Naruto would suddenly break down as he would sometimes recall his mistreatment, fortunately Ikuko was always there to hold him and calm him down when he did that. Naruto had always swallowed his pain and kept on smiling so that he would not worry those who did care about him, but it was here where he truly felt safe that all of that pain he endured would finally spill out of him, Ikuko and Kenji understood that this was a part of the healing process and was always there to support him.

Ikuko walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. She looked over at a shelf that held many of the family's memorabilia's; among them were a few certain trophies and a picture. The picture showed the Tsukino family including Naruto, the boy wearing a karate gi with a black belt while holding up a trophy for winning the tournament. Ikuko smiled at the picture and recalled all of his achievements as a young martial artist.

Naruto had a habit of fighting when he was younger whenever kids picked on either him or Usagi as he was rather protective of his new family. Naruto was a bit prideful and a little hot tempered, and this led to several times where he would get into fights with others who would either tease him about his birthmarks, question his strength, or worse yet, act mean towards his sister. There was an instance where a larger kid had teased Usagi about her hair, pulled on it and made her cry in front of Naruto. Needless to say, it would be the last time the kid dared to do that. There were more than a few times when he would come home with several bruises on his body from the scuffles he got into. Of course Kenji and Ikuko would be upset with Naruto and scold him for fighting, but they figured his actions were the result of the treatment he received when he was younger. The two decided to enroll him in karate as a way to teach him how to control both his strength and his temper, and it was there that they found he had natural talent for the sport. In no time at all Naruto became an accomplished martial artist, earning his black belt in just 3 years and winning 12 full contact tournaments since he started his training. His temper was also reigned in, much to the relief of his parents.

A piece of greenery beside the shelf reminded Ikuko that Naruto's talents were not sole in his fists, as he had also developed a skill for growing things. Ikuko loved to garden in the back yard, growing flowers as well as vegetables that the family could eat, and it turned out that Naruto had learned to garden while he lived alone as a means to keep himself occupied. Caring for things can help you deal with your own problems. Ikuko found it to be a way for them to bond when he first started living with them and the bond grew from there. Ikuko glanced out the back window to see the combined effort of their mutual hobby, a beautiful garden with a variety of colorful flowers and delicious looking veggies. She smiled warmly at all of her adopted son's achievements and how he developed from a reclusive young boy to a fine kind hearted young man.

- Streets of Juuban -

Meanwhile, said young man and his sister were running down the street towards their school, trying to get there before the tardy bell rang. Naruto glanced back to the girl and beckoned to her.

"C'mon Usagi, hurry up. We're gonna be late."

"Easy for you to say, you're the one with long legs. Ah man, I'm so sleepy. Why can't today be Saturday?" Usagi whined as she let out a yawn.

Naruto chuckled a bit. "Yeah, it would be great if it was the weekend, but unfortunately for us it's not. Let's just make sure we don't have to stand out in the hall again." Naruto remembered the few times they we're late and had to stand in the hall as punishment. Sure, he could always leave early and get there in time, but leaving his sister to suffer was not something he ever considers.

Usagi looked up to him. "You know, you could always go on ahead of me to make it in time, not that I want you to ditch me or anything." she stated halfway worried that he might do just that.

Naruto shook his head and replied, "Not on your life, Usagi-neechan. I would never let you suffer anything alone as long as I'm around. If you're ever in trouble, I'll be right there to either bail you out or take it with you." Naruto shot his sister his trade mark fox grin that made her blush a bit. She felt truly blessed to have a brother like Naruto, even if he was adopted. He was such a selfless person, always putting the needs of others before himself which was always a plus for any girl. She hoped that someday she would be able to repay him for everything he had ever done for her. Usagi truly loved Naruto as a sibling and as a person.

Suddenly their sprint to school was halted when they heard voices around a corner.

"Hold it still."

"I'm trying, it keeps squirming around."

"Hey, let's pull its tail; it might turn into a hamster."

Naruto and Usagi looked around the corner to find a group of boys harassing a small black cat, who was desperately trying to escape from its tormentors. Usagi gasped in shock while Naruto narrowed his eyes in anger and drew out a hiss. Naruto did not like seeing people mistreat anything living, human or animal.

"JUST WHAT THE HELL DO YOU BRATS THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" Naruto shouted as he ran to the cat's aid. The boys looked up at the advancing blond fury and made a hasty retreat out of the parking lot. Naruto ran over to the poor feline while Usagi followed and knelt down to check to see if it was hurt.

"Damn pests." Naruto huffed out as Usagi picked up the black cat and held it out. "Are you alright, little kitty?" Usagi asked the cat who started to franticly claw at the two bandages that were adhered to its forehead.

Usagi put the cat down as Naruto knelt beside Usagi to check on the feline himself. "There there, it's ok, I'll get it off, but it might hurt a little." Usagi said as she pulled the bandages away to reveal a crescent moon shaped mark on the cat's forehead, which began to glow a bright light that nearly blinded the two blonds. The cat's eyes opened up, then it jumped out of Usagi's arms before jumping off of the girls head, performing a flip in the air, then landed on top of a parked car and turning back to the stunned siblings. The cat stepped towards the two blonds prompting them to step back.

"Uh, nice kitty" Usagi said, a little wary of the cat with the strange crescent moon flashlight on its forehead.

_'What the heck is up with this cat?'_ Naruto thought as he stared at the feline. Just then he remembered that they were supposed to be somewhere.

"Usagi, we gotta go. School's starting." Naruto reminded his sister as he turned to start his sprint again.

Usagi turned and cried out, "Oh no, we're gonna be late!" The girl then followed her brother out of the lot and down the street towards school once more.

The black cat watched as they ran off. _'Those two, I'm sure I sensed something in both of them.' the cat thought as she focused her senses on the retreating couple. 'The girl I'm pretty certain, but that boy. Could he be?'_

The cat then leapt off to confirm her suspicions.

- Juuban Junior High School -

Usagi sighed as she leaned forward over her desk. She and Naruto had managed to make it in time for the bell thanks to a shortcut Naruto had led them through. The day had progressed fairly quickly, despite Mrs. Haruna Sakurada's lengthy lectures that could pass as a church sermon. It was now the lunch period and Usagi couldn't wait to dig into the delicious box lunch that her sweet mother had prepared for her, only to find that the said item was not in her possession.

"Oh no, I forgot to grab my lunch. Uwahhh, what am I gonna eat now?" Usagi cried as comical tears started coming out of her eyes. Luckily for her salvation came in the form of her dear brother.

"Looking for this, Neechan?" Naruto held out her box lunch as Usagi instantly perked up at the sight of her treasured lunch. "I figured you were gonna rush out and forget it so I grabbed it on the way out with mine." Naruto sat the lunch down in front of her then pulled a chair up to the desk to join his sister for lunch.

Usagi looked at Naruto with sparkling eyes and praised him. "Thank you Naruto-nii. You're the best brother a girl could ever ask for." Usagi opened the lunch and began to dig in while Naruto did the same with his. They always did enjoy eating lunch together, probably because both just enjoyed eating, it was one of the many things they had in common, in fact they did so many things together in the same way that many had wondered if they were twins earlier on.

Usagi ate her lunch in her usual bliss that she had when eating something she enjoyed. "Mmmm. Mom's cooking really is the best." she said as she took another bite of egg roll.

Naruto gave a nod as he swallowed his food. "It sure is, though I would enjoy it more if it was ramen."

Usagi stopped eating for a second to look at Naruto. "You know, you eat way too much ramen."

"What can I say, it's the best food ever invented. I could practically live off the stuff."

Usagi sweat dropped. _'You already did.' _she thought as she went back to her lunch. Then Usagi remembered something. "Oh yeah, did you hear, the new sailor V video game is coming out, I saw it on TV." The two were big fans of the actor and both collected a number of merchandise related to her.

Suddenly, Mrs. Haruna Sakurada came in with a few test papers in her hand. "Usagi, I think you need to focus more on studying and less on TV." Sakurada lectured, having overheard the blond talking just a second ago. She lifted the test that Usagi had done to reveal several marks on the sheet and a score of 50. "There isn't any reason for you to fail this test."

Usagi looked shocked at the score she was given. "I failed? How could that have happened?" she asked. Usagi was not one to take studying seriously, truth be told, but she did study with her brother most of the time so he was there to help her when she needed it. She was pretty sure that if he wasn't there she would no doubt bomb her test. However, even with his help she would often either fail or barely pass her grades, and staying up to read manga the night before the test didn't help her either.

Sakurada handed Usagi the test before giving her orders. "Have your mother sign this and return it to me."

Usagi paled at the thought of showing her mother that she failed another test. Naruto simply sighed as he watched his sister's antics before commenting. "Poor Usagi-neechan, if you had only tried a little harder, you would have done a lot better."

Sakurada turned to the blond boy and gave him a stern look. "Your one to talk Naruto. You may have passed your test, but just barely." Sakurada then presented Naruto his test which showed a score of 65. "You should be taking your own advice and focus on your studies more."

Naruto turned away from his teacher and scoffed under his breath. "Well maybe if your lectures weren't so boring I'd pay more attention." Naruto whispered so his teacher would not hear his comment.

Unfortunately for him, Sakurada had good hearing.

"Did you say something?" Sakurada asked with a sweet smile on her face, however the black aura that she was radiating promised the blond boy great pain if he did not give an answer to her question that she approved of.

"N-nothing Mrs. Haruna, I-I didn't say a thing." Naruto stuttered out in fear of his teacher.

"Good, now try studying a little harder for me, ok?" Sakurada patted the top of his head before leaving the room. Damn that woman could be scary when she wanted to be.

- Later - Outside Juuban Junior High -

Usagi was depressed. She had failed yet another test and she knew what was going to happen when she got home. Her mother was very strict when it came to studying and had warned her about what would happen if she failed again. Usagi sat down on a curb and sighed. Naruto wanted to do something for his sister, he never did like seeing her in this state as she is usually a energetic happy-go-lucky girl, if a bit of a crybaby.

Osaka Naru walked over to her childhood friend and spoke up in an attempt to lift Usagi's spirit. "Cheer up, Usagi, it was just one test out of many, it's not like it's the end of the world." Naru has been friends with Usagi and Naruto since kindergarten and not a single day goes by when the three don't have contact with one another in some form. The girl possessed red wavy hair that came down to her shoulders and blue eyes similar to Usagi's. Her mother owns a jewelry store called Osa-P Jewelers.

Usagi raised her head to her friend with a worried look on her face and replied, "Naru, you just don't get it. When mama see's this test I'll get grounded for sure. She'll cut my allowance and I won't get to go to the mall or the movies or be able to play the new Sailor V video game."

Naru sweat dropped as Naruto walked over and sat down next to his sister and placed his hand on her shoulder. "C'mon Usagi-neechan, you know I don't like it when your depressed like this. Would some ice cream make you feel better? My treat." Naruto offered as Usagi turned to him with a small smile on her face.

"Thank you, Naruto-nii, I could use a final meal."

Naruto sweat dropped a little just as a boy walked up to the group. Gurio Umino was a short boy with brown, spiky hair and wore glasses that were so thick that one could not see through them, which begged to question how the boy himself was able to use them. An otaku and socially awkward boy, Umino was infatuated with Usagi while he idolized Naruto for being one of the coolest kids in school, according to most of the student population.

"Hey Usagi-chan, I heard you failed another test. Do you want me to be your tutor?" Umino asked hoping for a yes from his crush.

"About as much as I'd like a migraine." Usagi said under her breath.

Naru turned to the dorky looking boy and spoke. "Usagi doesn't need a tutor, she needs to get her mind off the test, and I think that ice cream idea is really good. Do you mind if I come along with you two?" Naru asked as she turned back to Naruto who turned and smiled at the red head.

"Sure, I don't mind, Naru-chan. You're our friend and it's always good to have friends around." Naruto replied while giving her one of his fox grins. Naru blushed at the blond boy. There was not a single girl who could withstand Naruto's trademark fox smiles as it made him look impossibly handsome.

"T-Thank you, Naruto-kun." Naru said as she averted her gaze.

Umino, completely oblivious to the current mood, decided to put in his two cents about studying. "What's more important, your grades or a strawberry swirl? Look, I didn't study last night and I got a 95 on my test, how am I supposed to explain this to my parents?" Umino showed his test to the group which caused them to sweet drop.

"Hey pal, not all of us are freaking geniuses here, besides there is more to life then studying." Naruto stated as he stood up to help Usagi on her feet.

Naru nodded with the blond boy's comment. "That's right, there's also things like dancing and shopping. Oh! I know. Let's go over to my mom's jewelry store after we get ice cream. She's got some really wickedly cool stuff in this week. She might even have some stuff for you Naruto, like a silver chain or something you can wear."

Naruto nodded "Sure, that sounds good. I could use something different to change up my style."

The trio then left the school, leaving Umino to watch as they disappeared from view.

"Ha ha, left alone again. That's life, I guess."

Meanwhile…..

- Negaverse - Dark Kingdom -

Inside a dark, ominous castle, in a throne room barren of any god gifted light, a woman sat on a throne as she gazed into a crystal ball mounted on a staff. The woman had dark red flowing hair that traveled down to her hips and her eyes were red with yellowish sclera. She wore a purple dress that showed her figure as well as a black crown with a crystal in the center. She was a very beautiful woman by all standards, but the aura she radiated spoke of one thing, evil.

The woman moved her hands around the orb in front of her as she addressed the large audience of shrouded figures.

"The oracle has spoken, the time has come for us to rise once more and conquer the human world."

"Yes, Queen Beryl." The audience spoke out simultaneously.

"But before we can begin our conquest we must revive our great ruler, Queen Metalia. We must locate the sacred Silver Crystal of the Silver Millennium, it has the power to revive her. However, since the crystal is hidden, we must make due with an alternate energy source while we locate the crystal. The humans of earth have abundant energy, we will use it." Queen Beryl spoke as an image of Tokyo appeared on the crystal ball.

"Yes, my Queen." The audience once again chorused.

"Jadeite, come forth and present yourself." The Queen commanded.

"Yes, my Queen." A voice emanated from within the room as a pillar of blue flame erupted in the center of the room. When the flames died down, a man appeared from the spot bowing down to Queen Beryl. He had short blond hair and blue eyes with light blue sclera. He wore a military uniform consistent with an officer of high authority. The man lifted his head and spoke. "As you have commanded, I have already sent an agent to begin collecting the energy form the humans. I assure you we will have all the energy we require in little time."

Beryl looked at her subordinate with scrutiny and spoke. "Do not fail me, Jadeite. We must revive Queen Metalia."

"By your command, my Queen."

- Juuban shopping district - Osa-P Jewelers -

After half an hour and a few ice cream cones the trio of junior high students arrived at the Osa-P Jewelry store, to find quite the commotion going on. A large crowd had gathered at the location and everyone seemed to be excited about something. The group looked at each other briefly before hurrying into the store to find it packed with women young and old all browsing and showcasing the assorted jewelry available.

Usagi turned to her friend and spoke out in confusion. "Naru, what's going on here?"

Naru simply shook her head. "I haven't a clue."

"Well whatever it is, it's got the place hopping." Naruto spoke, adding in his opinion.

It was then that Naru's mother appeared through the crowd, calling out to all within earshot. "Welcome ladies, this is the chance of a lifetime. Now you can own diamonds, sapphires, pearls, jewels and gems. Today only everything is 90% off."

Naru looked over at her mother with a confused look. "Gee, my mom is really acting weird today."

"Yeah, I'll say. Wonder what she put in her coffee this morning." Usagi responded.

Naruto chuckled a bit at his sister's comment and spoke. "Yeah, maybe we should get mom some, that way she'd always stay in a good mood, even when we do something wrong."

Naru's mother continued to make her rounds thru the crowd, coercing them into buying her wares. "Please feel free to try on anything." Suddenly, a sinister smile made its way onto the woman's face as she began to chuckle under her breath. _'And surrender your energy to the Dark Kingdom!' _The woman thought, he inner voice much darker than the voice she used earlier. Unbeknownst to the women wearing the jewelry, the stones they wore began to glow a faint light as the items started to draw in the excessive energy being emitted by the excited crowd. _'I, Morga, dark disciple and servant of the Dark Kingdom, command that you give all your energy to me.' _Inside of his lair Jadeite's laughter echoed throughout the room as he held out his hand and collected the energy being siphoned by his servant. _'You have done well, Morga.' _Jadeite thought using his telepathic link with the youma to relay his message. _'The human's greed is an excellent catalyst to releasing their energy. Continue to gather the energy for the Dark Kingdom and prepare the weak humans for Queen Beryl.'_

_'As you command, my lord.' _Morga smiled a wicked smile at both the praise she was receiving and the thought of harvesting more energy from the worthless humans.

"Mom?" A voice cried out from behind Morga, causing the disguised youma to tense up before turning around sheepishly to address Naru and her friends.

"Oh, hello Naru, so nice to see you." Morga spoke in her disguised voice.

The trio walked up to the woman and Naru spoke, "Mom, my friends and I wanted to see if you had any jewelry and chains we could buy."

"Do you have any rhinestones, ma'am?" Usagi chirped as Naruto simply stood nearby. He couldn't really browse the selections with so many women in the store.

The fake mother waved her hand at the two girls and responded, "Rhinestones? Don't be silly. Help yourself to some diamonds instead, there's plenty to go around."

Usagi's eyes glittered at the thought. "Diamonds?"

"Any friend of my daughter deserves nothing but the best."

"I can't believe this." Usagi exclaimed as she cupped her face with her hands. To be honest, Naruto couldn't believe it either, but he decided to wait until he saw what was being offered before he said anything.

Moments later, the woman held out a case that held a large and beautiful diamond ring with a retail tag of around five grand. "Here, Usagi, try this on for size."

"Oh wow, it's beautiful." Usagi said as she marveled the ring presented to her. Naruto waited in the back of the crowd as he studied the ring from afar. He still wanted to see if there was a catch to all of this, sure it was Naru's mother and all but he always made it a point not to trust salespeople when they are pushing for sales.

"This is a flawless 20 karat diamond worth $5,000 dollars but for you I'll sell it for ten."

Usagi and Naru reeled back as they simultaneously spoke, "20 karat diamond, $10 dollars?"

If everyone wasn't so shocked at hearing that offer they would have heard Naruto's jaw hitting the floor as he stood there gaping at the woman. _'THAT'S PRACTICALY GIVING THE DAMN THING AWAY!' _Naruto shouted in his head as his mouth was not really functioning at the moment.

Suddenly a very large woman pushed the two girls away as she attempted to purchase the jewel for herself, an action that was repeated by the rest of the crowd as they attempted to obtain the expensive but cheap diamond. Naruto became worried for the safety of his sister and childhood friend as he franticly searched the mob for the two girls. His fear turned to relief when he noticed the two crawling out of the mass of women from under their legs.

"Are you two OK?" Naruto asked as he helped the two ladies to their feet.

"Yeah, we're fine, Naruto-nii." Usagi replied before the three turned their attention back to Naru's mother. "Naru, your mom is acting really weird today." Usagi said as Naru nodded to her best friend.

"I know and I'm a little worried about her, I think I need to stay and help her out a bit. Maybe I'll find out what is making her act this way."

Naruto agreed and realized that it was getting pretty late. With a sigh he turned to his sister. "Usagi-neechan, I think it is about time for us to head home."

Usagi looked at Naruto and paled a bit. "But Naruto-nii, you know what's going to happen when we get home. Mama's gonna want to see the test and then she'll get mad and ground me and then I won't be able to have fun."

"I know, but there's no sense in putting it off, and she's probably not gonna be too pleased with my results either."

Usagi whined a bit as the two said goodbye to Naru and made their way out of the store. Outside Usagi pulled the test out, grimaced at it and then crumpled it into a ball. "There's no way I can show her this." Usagi cried out as she threw the paper ball behind her, much to Naruto's disapproval. Unfortunately, the paper just happened to hit a person right on top of the head.

"Hey, watch where you're throwing things, dumpling head."

Hearing the insult thrown her way Usagi turned around to see who it was that used the one insult that always riled her up. "What did you say?" Usagi asked as Naruto also turned as he had heard the comment being directed at his sister.

What they got was a tall young man with black hair examining the paper that had hit him. A large sweat drop appeared on his head as he saw the marks and score that was displayed on the test. "Wow, this is pretty poor." The man commented while Usagi was upset that he was reading her test.

Usagi freaked out a little as she realized that this man was examining something that she was intending to keep private, she really didn't want people to know she did poorly in school. Usagi rushed over and snatched the paper out of the hands of the man, revealing that he was wearing a pair of shades that covered his eyes. "Mind your own business, buddy." Usagi spoke sternly as the man just looked at her.

"Tell me something, with scores like that were you being lazy or are you just dumb?" The man questioned as Usagi was hit with both anger and sadness from the remark as she glared at the man while her eyes began to tear up. Usagi really didn't like being called names, especially being called either dumb or lazy and the man had just used both in a single sentence. She wasn't the only one losing her cool as Naruto was getting angry with this guy's attitude.

"Hey pal, don't talk to my sister that way." Naruto said as he walked up to the man. The guy then looked at Naruto and immediately took notice of his birthmarks. "Whoa, are those whiskers? What are you, some kind of fox-boy?"

Usagi suddenly tensed up from hearing this. 'Uh-oh!'

"What did you say?!" Naruto yelled as he suddenly grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt. Naruto did NOT like being called anything fox related since he still remembered his treatment from when he was younger, since his time before he was adopted into the Tsukino house. Other than a few people from his past he would like to totally forget about his life before he came to Tokyo. "Say that to me one more time, I dare you."

"Whoa kid, take it easy. Are you really planning to start something right here in the street?" The man tried to reason with the fuming blond. Naruto looked around as many of the people had stopped to look at the commotion and was looking at the blond with worried expressions. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he would be in serious trouble if he started swinging his fist right there in front of everyone. With reluctance he let go of the man's shirt and walked back to Usagi.

"Leave me and my sister alone, pal. Next time, you might not get off so easily." With that, the two began their walk back home. The man watched as the siblings walked away before removing his shades revealing his blue eyes to the world.

_'That kid sure has a fiery temper. Still, there is something about the two of them.'_

- Outside the Game Crown Arcade -

As Naruto and Usagi made their way back home, they passed by the local arcade, the Game Crown. The Crown was one of their favorite places to come to after school to play games and eat since it also had a full sized bar and grill (Non-alcoholic drinks, of course.) This was also the place where Furuhata Motoki worked. Motoki was a young man with short curly blond hair and blue eyes, and was almost always seen wearing his work clothes which consisted of a white dress shirt, pants, and apron. Motoki was one of Narutos' best friends and they were often seen chatting when Naruto was not playing games or eating. Sometimes Naruto would even help out in the arcade for some extra spending money as well as getting a free run at some of the games. Usagi had a deep crush on the blond, which Naruto knew of and would tease her about it from time to time. At the moment the two would have really liked nothing more than go inside and play around for a bit, however it was already late and they had already spent most of their money for the week so they had no choice but to pass by and continue on their way home.

As they walked past the entrance to the arcade, Usagi caught sight of a poster which showed the new Sailor V video game soon to be released. She stopped and stared at the image of the elegant Sailor V and let out a sigh. Naruto had only made a few steps forward when he noticed that Usagi was not with him and hearing her sigh made him turn and look at his sister as she stared at the poster.

"I really wish I could be like Sailor V, she's so beautiful and elegant and smart. Something is always happening in her life." Usagi spoke out to no one in particular but not really minding that Naruto was listening to her as he walked up beside her. However the two did not realize that they were not alone as the black cat that they had rescued earlier was hiding behind a small sign and was watching them carefully.

Usagi let out another sigh only this one was harder as she hung her head as she continued. "Who am I kidding; I'll never be anything like her."

Naruto looked at her a little sternly and decided to add his opinion. "Oi, neechan, don't ever say that. There is nothing in this world that you cannot be. I believe you can do or be whatever you want to be, and don't let anyone else tell you otherwise."

Usagi looked up at Naruto. "But how can I ever hope to come anywhere close to her. There is nothing special about me, I mean look at me, I'm not smart or elegant or…" Usagi's rant was cut short as Naruto grabbed her by her arms and turned her squarely to him as he looked at her with a serious expression.

"Didn't I just say to stop saying things like that? You ARE special. You're kind and compassionate and a beautiful girl. You helped me when I needed it the most and helped make me the guy I am today." He smiled at her before continuing. "You are special, neechan, and I know you will succeed in becoming whatever you want to be."

Usagi smiled as small tears formed in the corner of her eyes. It was times like this that she was glad to have Naruto in her life. "Thank you, Naruto-nii."

Usagi pulled the test out and reexamined it. "Mama's gonna be really mad when she sees this."

"Well, we'll just have to go through it together, neechan. C'mon, let's get home. We've stalled enough."

With that, the two continued their trek back home, still unaware that they had been watched the whole time. The black cat moved further out into the open and watched them disappear. _'I'm certain of it now. That girl is the one. And the boy, I never would have imagined I would find HIM here.'_

- Tsukino Residence -

"Usagi, I am VERY disappointed in you."

Ikuko was not happy at all at the moment. When her two children came home she greeted them with her usual smile and asked how their day went. After they replied she then asked them about the test they took the day before which caused Usagi to flinch and sweat a little. She was hoping that her mother wouldn't say anything about it and completely forget that they took it, however she knew her mother would always remember these kinds of things, plus the fact that Mrs. Haruna required that her mother sign the test didn't help her either. With great reluctance she handed the test over to her mother and braced herself for the coming judgment. She didn't have to wait long as her mother's usual happy demeanor was replaced with a scowl.

"I had expected better of you, however it seems you insist on continuing to fail these tests."

Usagi looked down in shame. "I'm sorry, mama." Naruto placed a hand on her shoulder, offering some sympathy for his sister.

Ikuko placed the test aside and looked sternly at her daughter. "I warned you what would happen if you failed another test. I'm cutting your allowance and you'll be spending the rest of the day in your room studying. No TV, no video games, no manga, and no dinner if you don't do anything except hit the books."

Usagi shot her head back up with tears in her eyes. "Aw, mama, that's too harsh."

"You're lucky I don't ground you for the week, however if you continue to complain I just might do it."

Usagi hung her head in defeat as she slowly trudged upstairs and into her room. Naruto watched as his sister disappeared from view and looked at his mother. "Mom, did you have to be so hard on her? I mean, she is improving some all the time."

Ikuko turned to her eldest son and sighed. "Naruto, you need to stop taking her side all the time, your spoiling her."

"I can't help it mom. You know what it was like for me before you guys took me in. You gave me a home and a family, something that I never had before. I want you all to know how much I love you and how much you guys mean to me."

Ikuko smiled and walked over to hug her adopted child. "I know, sweetie. And I'm glad that you became a part of our lives too. You had gone through so much pain, it was only right that we take you in. You deserved to be loved."

"Thanks, mom." Naruto spoke as he held his mother for a few moments, enjoying the feeling of being embraced.

The two then broke away and smiled at each other before Ikuko spoke once more. "And now, Naruto, before I forget…." She held out her hand to the blond boy. "…..your test, please."

"Urk!" Naruto grunted out as he realized it was his turn to take some heat.

- Later - Osa-P Jewelers -

The store was continuing its activities as the women were shopping for the wares that were available to them from the unbelievable sale going on. Every woman present was wearing a piece of jewelry that they had either bought or showcased. Suddenly many of the patrons started to collapse as the jewels they wore glowed brighter with every second.

"Oh, s-something is wrong." One of the women stated as she became weak and had to use the counter for support.

"Why am I feeling so weak all of a sudden?" Another women asked as she started to slump over.

"I feel so…..strange."

"What's…..happening?"

"Feeling….so…faint."

"Oh merciful me!" Exclaimed a large women, the very same one that had pushed Usagi and Naru away earlier that day, as she fell to the floor with a big 'Thud' while the large amount of jewelry she had on scattered across the room from the impact.

The store was now littered with woman who had collapsed from their energy being drained out. Naru looked around in shock and confusion as the very air itself seems to have had all the energy sucked out of it. "Mama, what's wrong with your customers? Why are they all fainting?"

Naru's mother made no reply as she continued to stare at the scene, her back to Naru. Suddenly, the women began to laugh in a sinister manner that sent a chill up Naru's spine as she looked to her mother with worried eyes.

"Mama?"

Slowly the woman turned her head to Naru revealing a scary menacing facial expression. "I'm not your mother, child." The woman continued to laugh as Naru raised her hand to cover her mouth in shock and fear.

- Tsukino Household -

Usagi plopped down on her bed exhausted. For the past few hours she hadn't been able to do anything except study and now it felt like her brain was about to go on strike. She would have liked nothing more than to relax after such a stressful day and enjoy reading her collection of comics and manga but she had to spend her time hitting the books because of her botched test. Usagi let out a hard sigh as she let her brain cool down from the cram session. "Ah man, I'm so tired of studying."

A soft knock on the door broke her out of her thoughts as she turned to see the door open and Naruto stick his head into her room. "Usagi-neechan, you doing ok?" Her brother asked as he entered the room completely and closed the door behind him.

Usagi sat up on her bed as she nodded to the boy and replied. "Yeah, I'm ok. Just a little tired from everything today. It sure was boring having to study all through the evening."

Naruto sat down beside Usagi and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I'm sure it was. I'm just glad that mom didn't make both of us do it." Naruto spoke as he recalled his mother's reaction to his poor but acceptable test results.

"Well, at least you didn't fail. But I expect you to do much better next time, Naruto." His mother had said with a stern look giving him the message that she was not kidding around.

A long sigh from Usagi snapped Naruto out of his thoughts as he looked to see her looking a little downcast. "What's wrong, neechan?"

"Naruto-nii, it seems like I do nothing but disappoint everyone. I just can't do anything right." She looked up at him with moistened eyes. "Do you think I'll amount to anything when I can't really do anything?"

Naruto's expression turned serious. "This again? I told you before that you can be anything you want to be, you just have to have faith in yourself and believe. And if you need any help I'll be right there to lend you a hand."

Usagi allowed a small smile to frame her face. "Thank you, Naruto-nii."

Naruto made his fox smile to his sister. The two were unaware that they were not the only ones in the room as the door to the balcony opened slightly. With a level of stealth the being moved through the room towards the occupants and it was then that Naruto saw something in the corner of his eye and looked up, causing Usagi to look as well. In the center of the room looking at the two blonds was the same cat with the crescent moon mark on it's forehead that they had rescued earlier that day.

"Oh wow, it's the cat we rescued." Naruto spoke as he knelt down from the bed. "How did you get in here?" Naruto asked as Usagi leaned down to get a closer look at the black cat. Usagi was about to make a comment about her brother questioning an animal, however, the two would receive the shock of their lives when the cat actually answered.

"Why, through the window, of course."

"…."

"Usagi-neechan?"

"Yes, Naruto-nii."

"Did that cat just talk?"

"I….think it did."

"Oh…..ok…..just making sure it wasn't just me." Naruto spoke as small beads of sweat ran down his face. Usagi's complexion wasn't fairing much better.

The cat raised her paw up to her mouth and cleared her throat as she began to speak.

"My name is Luna, and I have been searching for you for a very long time." The cat now known as Luna spoke with a slight British accent as she looked at Usagi. "You are the chosen one. I am here to guide you to your destiny, as the sailor senshi of the moon."

Usagi was speechless as Naruto looked at the two before speaking to Luna. "Wait a minute. Are you saying that you have been looking for my sister because she is a…..sailor senshi?" Naruto asked, ignoring the fact that he is actually having a conversation with a cat.

"That is correct, young man." Luna answered as she now turned her attention to Naruto. "However, I was a bit surprised to find You here."

Naruto blinked a couple of times before pointing to himself. "Me?"

"Yes. I was not expecting to find a shadow senshi during my search for the sailor senshi. However, this will be of great aid to us." Luna said as she closed her eyes and nodded her head.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at Luna. "A shadow senshi? What's that?"

Luna opened her eyes again and spoke. "Allow me to explain. Long ago there existed a great empire that spanned the entire solar system called the Silver Millennium, the seat of that empire was the Moon Kingdom that was built on the earth's moon. Now the sailor senshi were the guardians of the Silver Millennium, each planet had a senshi to protect it. While the earth itself had no senshi to represent it, the moon did and it was the senshi of the moon that protected both earth and moon in times of need. Now while the sailor senshi were seen as the warriors and protectors of the Silver Millennium, they were not alone as a secret group of warriors also existed that fought alongside the sailor senshi, only they did so from the shadows. These warriors were known as the shadow senshi. Very few knew of their existence as they only revealed themselves when they were needed the most. As far as I know, you are the last shadow senshi in existence, as the others were lost in a great battle long ago."

Naruto stood there for a sometime while he absorbed and processed the information given to him, finally he spoke. "Wow….that's a lot to take in. But how do you know we are who you say we are. I don't remember ever being a shadow senshi."

Usagi stood up and walked over to Naruto as she also spoke out. "Yeah and how do you know I'm this sailor senshi of the moon. I'm just a normal girl."

Luna stood on all four legs as she looked at the two. "The reason you two don't remember is because you were both senshi in your past lives, as you are both reincarnations of the senshi. And as far as knowing that you two are senshi, well showing you will be a lot quicker than explaining it." And with that Luna jumped into the air, performed a back flip and from the trail of light she released behind her came two items, a golden brooch and a silver necklace. The two items fell two the floor in front of their respective owners, with Usagi getting the brooch and Naruto receiving the necklace.

Usagi picked up the brooch and examined the item. It was golden with a crescent moon etched into the bottom part of the front facing, four small gems of red, blue, green, and yellow embedded into the rim, and one larger pink gem embedded just above the moon. Usagi smiled as she examined the brooch and spoke out excitedly. "Wow, it's so pretty. How should I wear it?"

Luna sweat dropped a little as she watched Usagi attach the brooch to the large ribbon on her uniform and then proceeded to model the accessory in front of a mirror. "What do you think, Naruto-nii?"

"Looks good on you." Naruto replied as he turned his attention to the item he received. The necklace was simple enough looking with a long silver chain that wasn't thin enough to be fragile but was not too thick for it to appear out of style. A single piece of silver as large as a coin hung in the center of the chain, a crescent moon etched into the metal similar to Usagi's brooch was shown with a single white gem affixed above the moon. Naruto examined the necklace before smiling himself and turned his attention back to Luna. "This is a nice necklace, Luna. Thank you for the gifts."

"You're welcome." Luna responded with a smile before becoming serious again. "Now then, these items are very special. They contain the power you will need to fight the dark forces that threaten to destroy this world. As senshi you are both charged with defending it."

Usagi got stars in her eyes as realization dawned on her. "I get to be a pretty sailor senshi fighting evil just like Sailor V? I must be dreaming."

Naruto sighed a little as he watched his sister's antics; this whole situation seemed completely unbelievable. Well, for Naruto he had already experienced things that would be considered unbelievable, like being sent to another dimension by a guy wearing bandages performing ninja arts with hand signs and seals, so why would this situation be any different.

Finally resigning himself to the situation, Naruto spoke to Luna once more. "Alright, so how do we use these things? I hope we don't have to do some weird pose while shouting out some strange command." Naruto thought back to an American television show he once saw about a group of teenagers who transformed into kamen looking super heroes who were named after prehistoric lizards. The boy shuddered a little at the thought of having to do something like that.

"I'm glad you asked, Naruto." Luna answered as she walked towards Usagi. "Yes, you do have to call out a command, but you won't have to pose or anything." 'That comes later.' "Now Usagi, repeat after me." Usagi's attention became completely focused on Luna. "Moon Prism Power, Make-up."

Usagi nodded and then spoke in a commanding voice.

"Moon Prism Power, Make-up."

As the power of the brooch awakened, Usagi found her clothing being dissolved away as large treads of red silk emerging from the brooch and began to wrap themselves around her body. Once the silk completely covered a segment of her body they transformed into garments. Her chest and stomach were covered with a skin tight sailor style fuku with a red bow located on the front of her chest and on the indention of her back as well as a blue skirt which flowed down and ended at half thigh. Her legs were covered with knee high red boots with a white border at the triangle top. Her arms were covered with white gloves that stopped at her elbows with red borders. Two round red accents with white borders appeared on the front of the ball shaped hair strands. A red chocker with a crescent moon emblem wrapped around her neck and earrings appeared, also with crescent moon emblems. Finishing off the transformation was a golden tiara with a red jewel that affixed itself on her forehead. Tsukino Usagi had for the first time transformed into the Pretty Sailor Senshi, Sailor Moon.

"Whoa!" Naruto exclaimed as witnessed his sister's transform. It was both shocking and slightly disturbing for him as he was briefly presented with Usagi's body being bare of clothing. Adding to it was the fact that what she was wearing now was quite form fitting as well and the short skirt didn't leave much for the imagination.

Usagi was also shocked as she studied her new appearance. "Oh, wow. Is this for real? Everything's just getting weirder by the second."

Pleased that the girl had successfully activated the power of the brooch Luna turned her attention to Naruto, who still had a bit of a blush on his face. "Now it's your turn, young man. In order to activate your powers you merely need to call out Lunar Power, Transformation."

Naruto snapped out of his slight stupor as he looked at Luna then examined his necklace. He studied it for a second before turning his attention back to the small black cat. "Are you sure about this? You know it would be kind of embarrassing if nothing happened, or worse I end up wearing something similar to my sister." Naruto spoke as he briefly imagined himself in a sailor fuku and skirt, the image only existing for a brief moment in his mind before he banished it but shuddered a bit before it ceased to exist.

Usagi and Luna both had similar thoughts and actions as they too visualized the image. "Heavens, no. I assure you that you will be wearing proper garments." 'At least, I hope you will.' Luna added in her mind.

Studying the necklace one last time, Naruto sighed and nodded. "Alright then…here goes nothing." And with that Naruto braced himself and spoke out the words. "Lunar power, Transformation."

The necklace began to glow white before it shattered into thousands of pieces of light. Naruto's form became completely incased in a shroud of shadow as the pieces of light began to spin around him in a whirlwind. The light began to stick to the shroud as it gathered and take form, creating the silhouette of a cloaked figure. Finally, in a flash the light broke away revealing Naruto in his shadow senshi form.

Naruto's clothing consisted of a white robe that covered his upper body as well as his arms and traveled down loosely to his knees with a split in the front below his waist and slits on the sides and back to allow his legs freedom of movement which were covered by long white pants. A long red sash was wrapped around his waist with the ends hanging at the front and the back and was held in place by a large leather belt that had several pouches attached along the length. His hands were covered with fingerless gloves while the forearms were armored with elbow length silver arm guards. On his feet were a pair of leather boots that came up to mid-calf while his lower legs were also armored with silver grieves that were held from above his ankles and stopped at his knees. The last piece of armor he wore was a silver shoulder plate that was affixed on his left shoulder by three leather straps, one traveling underneath his right arm before connecting with the back side of the plate while the other two straps connected the plate to the right side of his belt from the points where the first strap was connected. His head was covered with a hood that resembled the shape of a eagles beak as the hood hid his hair and ears but allowed his face to be seen, however only his eyes were visible as his lower face was coved with a white mask. At the tip of the hood positioned over Naruto's forehead was a diamond shaped silver plate with the moon symbol engraved in the metal.

Overall, aside from the silver armor pieces Naruto looked like a medieval assassin. (1)

Usagi and Luna stared in awe as they gazed at the newly transformed teen boy while Naruto took stock in his new appearance in a mirror.

"Hey, Not bad. This is actually pretty cool." Naruto stated as he continues to examine his new attire.

"Wow, Naruto-nii. That looks good on you." Usagi spoke when she finally snapped out of her stupor.

Luna nodded in agreement with the blond sailor senshi. "Indeed, you look quite charming."

"Thanks, guys." Naruto said as he finished his inspection. It was then that Usagi began to think about their current state. _'Wow, who would have thought something like this would happen. I turn into a beautiful sailor senshi and Naruto-nii becomes a handsome white assassin. The amazing super hero siblings, Sailor Moon and….and….' _It was then that the girl came to a realization.

"Hey, what is your name, by the way."

Naruto turned to his sister slightly confused. "Huh?"

"I mean, if I'm Sailor Moon then what does that make you?" Usagi turned to Luna to see if she had the answer. "Do you know what he's called, Luna?"

The cat closed he eyes for a moment while she thought about it until she looked back and responded with a shake of her head. "No, I don't have a name for him. I know that the senshi were named after their respective homes but the shadow senshi are not as well-known due to the nature of their existence."

Naruto thought it over. "Well that's not good. I can't just run around like this being called 'Naruto.' Kind of defeats the whole purpose of a disguise, doesn't it?" Naruto turned back to the mirror as he thought about what he would go by in this form. He looked over himself and noted the armor pieces that covered the various parts of his body kind of resembled the armor that European medieval knights wore. He also thought about his transformation and the command he gave out. Suddenly a name appeared in his mind, and the more he thought of it, the more it seemed right to him. With a nod of his head, he decided.

"I know what I will be known as." Naruto spoke as he walked over to the balcony door.

"Hmm?" Both Usagi and Luna hummed out as they watched the cloaked teen step in front of the door before turning to face them.

"I am….The **Lunar Knight**." Naruto proclaimed as he stood in a majestic pose, the light of the full moon entering the windows added to the effect.

Once more Usagi and Luna found themselves staring in awe of the figure before them.

"Help me! Somebody, Please…..Help Me!" Usagi was suddenly jarred out of her staring when the accents on her hair sudden began to blink and a distressed voice entered her ears, only what shocked her was that she recognized the voice.

"Naru"?

"Hmm? What is it, Usagi-nii?"

"I…..I heard Naru's voice just now. And she was calling for help."

"You serious?" Naruto tensed up as he listened to his sister's statement. Suddenly a sensation came over him as he began to feel something. The presence he was apparently detecting seemed to belong to something dark and menacing. As he concentrated on the sensation he found that he could determine the general direction of the source as well as an idea of how far away the presence was located.

"I sense something, and it seems to be located somewhere in the shopping district." Naruto turned to the door again and focused his senses on the aura he was feeling. "And whatever it is, it's not friendly."

Luna expression became serious. "It seems that the enemy has already made it's move, and it looks like your friend Naru is caught in the middle of it."

Usagi gasped as she instantly became worried for her best friend's well-being. "Oh no, what're we gonna do?"

"Simple, my dear sister." Naruto spoke as he pushed open the doors. "We go there, save her and stop whatever the hell that thing is." Naruto looked back over his shoulder at the two with determined eyes. "Sailor Moon, Luna, Let's Go!"

"Ah….Okay." Usagi nodded as she began to follow her brother out of the room. Luna stared at the cloaked warrior for a moment before nodding with a hum to herself. She was quite impressed with the way that the boy seemed to be taking charge of the situation. And with that the trio leapt out of the room and into the night as they raced to assist their distressed friend.

- Osa-P Jewelers -

Naru had never been so scared or confused in her entire life. One moment she was helping her mother tend the store and the next all the costumers began to faint while her mother simply watched with a disturbing grin on her face. And now said mother had both her hands around the poor girls neck as she attempted to squeeze the very life out of her.

"Ahh…Stop…..Please, stop mama…..stop….."

Morga merely chuckled at the girl. "I told you before, I'm not your mother." And as if to prove her point the woman began to change. Her entire body began to wither and wrinkle as her hair that was once a smooth and wavy red became a mess of sickly dark brown and her blue eyes morphed into yellow irises with black sclera. A cross shaped scar appeared on her forehead and her dress turned from purple to black.

Naru became terrified of the sight as she continues to struggle with her tormentor. "Who are you? What have you done with my mother?"

The youma cackles as she tightens her grip on the redhead's throat. _**"Your mother is in the basement but I'm afraid she is a little incapacitated at the moment. But don't worry dear, you'll be seeing her soon…..in the afterlife! HAHAHAHA!"**_

"Let Her Go!"

_**"Hmm?!" **_Morga turns her head around a complete 180 degrees showing that she was indeed a inhuman creature as she focused her attention to the origin of the voice.

_**"Who's there?"**_

Standing at the front door with the moon visible behind her, Sailor Moon poised herself for action. "I said let her go."

Morga narrowed her eyes as she took in the blonds' appearance. _**"And who are you?"**_

Sailor Moon blinks for a second in thought. "Me? I…ahh…" Sailor Moon then goes into her series of poses. "I'm Sailor Moon, Champion of Justice! And in the name of the Moon, I will punish you!"

_**"Sailor Moon, huh. Never heard of ya."**_

"Last warning, creep. Let the girl go!" Sailor Moon declared as she took a brave step forward.

Morga turned the rest of her body around as she loosened her grip on Naru's throat but still kept a good hold on her. The youma grind mockingly at the heroine before replying. _**"You, demanding something of me? Now that's really cute. Do you honestly think that you can take me on alone?"**_

"Who said that she was alone?"

_**"Wha-?" **_The youma attempted to turn her head to see where this new voice came from-

*CRACK!*

-Only to find a gloved fist being rammed into the side of her face.

_**"GUHAAAAAHHHH!" **_Morga was sent flying from the force of the punch into one of the jewelry displays that shattered sending glass and phony jewelry in all directions. The sudden departure of the sucker punched youma had sent Naru airborne but before she could fall back down she was caught bridal style by a pair of strong arms. As the redhead's body settled into the embrace her eyes began to flutter open and she was met with a pair of cerulean blue eyes. She blinked as she focused her vision until she could see who was holding her. The being wore a white hooded robe and mask and had several pieces of silver armor secured to various places on his body, and speaking of bodies, Naru became very aware of the firm muscles on this person if the blush on her face was any indication.

"Are you alright?" Lunar Knight spoke as he examined the girl in his arms.

"Ah…uh-huh." Was the only response Naru could make as she continued to stare into her saviors eyes.

"Good. Let's get you out of harm's way then." The masked hero then proceeded to take Naru to a spot where she would not be caught up in the fight that was to come.

Sailor Moon smiled as she saw Naru being taken to somewhere safer. When they first arrived at the store they looked through one of the windows to find the girl in the clutches of the disguised youma and watched it as it dropped its facade and strangle the helpless redhead. They quickly made a plan where Sailor Moon would distract the monster while Lunar Knight snuck in and freed Naru. She was very pleased to see that the plan had gone off without a hitch and now Naru was out of danger.

Morga was finally able to pull herself out of the display as she shook her head clear of cobwebs and glared hatefully at the white figure. _**"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!?" **_The youma shouted as she rubbed the side of her face which now sported a rather large bruise from the punch.

The man sat Naru down beside one of the columns inside the store and turned back to the youma with his eyes shut as he took a casual pose. "Who am I?" He asked as he opened his eyes to meet the youma glare. "I am the protector of the innocent. I am the shadow of the moon. The one who silences those who hail from the darkness." He throws his hand out in a grand gesture. "I am the Lunar Knight. And in the name of the moon, I will silence you." Lunar Knight finishes his pose with a finger pointing straight at the youma. "Believe it."

Morga growled as she extended her claws. _**"The only thing I believe is in your demise." **_The youma cried out as she charged the masked warrior.

"Sailor Moon, keep an eye on the girl." Lunar Knight called out as he too charged into battle. Sailor Moon walked over to her friend as she positioned herself between the redhead and the fight but turned her head to look back and smiled. "Don't worry, we'll take care of this. Just believe in us." She spoke before giving the girl a wink. Naru stared at her before finally nodding her head. There was just something about these two that made her want to put her faith in them, like she knew everything was gonna be alright if she believed in them. Sailor Moon turned her attention back to the battle, making sure that no harm befell her friend.

Meanwhile, Morga was having a rather difficult time with the masked warrior as she swiped and thrust her clawed hand trying to damage her opponent who was doing a great job of blocking, parrying, and dodging her strikes.

_**"Stand still, Damn you!" **_The youma cried out as she took another swipe at the shadow senshi who simply leaned back to avoid the attack.

'Yeah right. Like I'm really gonna let her take my head off.' Lunar Knight thought as he continued to dance around the frustrated foe. 'Hmm, my strength and reflexes seem to have been enhanced. Let's just see how much.' As Morga attempted another stab Lunar Knight brought his left arm up to block, allowing the youma's claws to glide over the arm guard before throwing the arm outward giving the senshi a perfect opportunity to retaliate. Lunar Knight pulled his fist back and sent a straight punch into Morga's stomach, effectively knocking the wind out of her as spit was sent flying from her mouth. He then followed up with a jab and cross to the face and then an uppercut to the chin making the youma stagger backwards. The senshi finished his combo by rotating his body around and throwing his leg out, performing a spin heel kick to the side of the youma's face and sending her into another display case.

Sailor Moon and Naru watched in awe as the male senshi dominated the fight. The way he fought looked almost like a dance as he moved from one attack to another. Luna, who was watching above from a high window sill, was also impressed with the boys fighting skills. She had never expected to find a shadow senshi in her quest to locate Sailor Moon and was not too sure of how he would aid them in the fight with the Dark Kingdom, now she was very thankful that she had found him.

Morga pulled herself out of the case as she now sported two large bruises on her face, one on each side. _**"Grrrrrrrrr! You'll pay for this!"**_

"Still kicking, huh? Well c'mon. I got plenty more for ya." Lunar Knight taunted as he prepared himself for another round.

"Ha! You think your pretty strong, huh. Well, lets see how you handle an army." Morga raised her arms in the air. "Arise my slaves, heed your masters call and do my bidding. Crush these fools." Suddenly all of the unconscious customers began to rise as the gems on their bodies glowed. The two senshi and civilian found themselves in quite a tight spot as Morga rose in the air from behind the crowd of zombie shoppers. _**"HAHAHAHA! Not so cocky when you're outnumbered. Now my slaves, ATTACK!" **_And with that, the mob rushed forward to accomplish their gruesome task.

Lunar Knight used every ounce of his skill in order to avoid the charging horde of women as he ducked and weaved around his attackers while executing precision strikes in order to knock them out of the fight without harming them too much. Sailor Moon watched as her brother tried his hardest not to be overpowered by the mob when she noticed one of the women, the large one that happened to push her when she was at the store earlier, was charging straight at her. Now normally a teen who finds herself in a situation like this would panic and do something reckless, however when your sibling is a martial arts expert for many years you don't get by without learning a few things, or in this case, a few moves. When the large woman was almost on top of her Sailor Moon sidestepped to avoid the charge, she then grabbed the woman's arm on top of the wrist and under the shoulder before pulling downward and back to make the woman flip over and with her own forward momentum propelling her, the woman went sailing through air and landed with a loud 'thud' on the floor and passed out.

"Alright. I did it." Sailor Moon cheered as she hopped up and down, excited in the fact that she pulled off one of her brother's moves. She was so distracted by her victory that she failed to notice another zombie shopper approaching her from behind.

"Sailor Moon, Look Out!" Naru screamed when she saw the attack coming. Sailor Moon snapped out of her revelry and turned in time for the woman to collide with her, sending her to the floor with a bruised posterior and ego. The sailor senshi winced as she rubbed her backside and quickly found herself as the target for another attacker who intended to finish the girl off.

Lunar Knight was busy trying to stay in one piece as he dealt with wave after wave of possessed patrons when he saw the attack on his sister. 'Shit!' The senshi exclaimed internally seeing the girl about to get torn apart. As another woman tried to grab him Lunar Knight jumped up in the air and landed on the assailants back and using her as a springboard propelled himself across the room landing in between Sailor Moon and the attacking woman before spinning around and landing a palm strike to the woman's mid-section, sending her flying backwards into another group of advancing zombies.

The trio now found themselves completely surrounded on three sides with a wall to their back as the mob slowly advanced upon them. At this point the Lunar Knight was starting to tire from the fighting as his breathing became heavy. 'There's still so many of them.' The cackling from above drew their attention once more to the youma who had been watching as the two senshi struggled.

_**"HAHAHAHA! You all look so pathetic and helpless it almost hurts to watch this. Now be good little children and die for me!"**_

Lunar Knight stood defiantly as he stared at the youma, his eyes burning with determination. "There is no way we're gonna let you win you old fossil. As long as there is a single breath in our bodies, we will fight."

_**"Oh please, do you really think you can fight against the power of the Dark Kingdom? Face it, kid. You're finished."**_

"The only one who's finished around here…..is YOU! You're Going Down!"

(INSERT Naruto Main Theme)

As his words left his lips, the crescent moon emblem on the hood of his robes began to glow with a white light. As if he was being guided by an unseen force, The Lunar Knights hands came together with both sets of index and middle fingers extended creating a cross shape. He felt his energy flare up, more energy than he ever thought he could possess. Then out of nowhere, a thought came to his mind, one that felt overwhelming to him. Neither able to resist the urge or want to, Lunar knight shouted.

"KAGE BUSHIN NO JUSTU" (2)

Suddenly the entire store was enveloped in a plume of smoke while the air vibrated with a ringing sound. As the smoke cleared everyone was completely shocked to find not one but TWENTY Lunar Knights now standing in front of the mob poised for battle.

Morga: _**"WHAT THE HELL!?"**_

Sailor Moon: "No way!"

Naru: "Oh my god."

Luna: "Incredible!"

"Let's go!" And with that the squad of Lunar Knights lunged forward and tackled the mob of women. In a short time span all the possessed women were either incapacitated or immobilized by the Lunar Knight copies. Morga looked franticly around trying to make sense of the situation as she was now without her slave army.

_**"How can this be? They're all solid copies." **_Morga had known a lot of youma in her life and each one had their own unique abilities, but she has NEVER heard of a being who had the power to make solid clones of itself.

"I told ya you were going down!"

The sudden outburst drew her attention up above her. She was greeted with the sight of two Lunar Knights flying towards her with their fists cocked back, the left one with his right fist and vice versa.

"Now it's your turn to kiss the floor! But before that….."

Morga could only stare wide-eyed as the two masked senshi copies barred down upon her.

"….KISS MY FIST!"

With that the two copies threw their punches right into the youma's face as both made contact simultaneously. The force of the attack sent the youma flipping end-over-end downward where she bounced off the last display case and slammed into the wall. Morga managed to peal herself off the wall and remain on her feet but that was about all she could do as she staggered back and forth trying to remain standing. Green blood dripped from her face as her nose had been crushed and a few teeth had been knocked out.

Yeah, this youma has definitely seen better days.

Sailor Moon had managed to get to her feet at some point and watched the whole event take place. She couldn't believe that her brother possessed such an incredible ability. It was then that Luna came running up and spoke to the senshi. "Sailor Moon, now is your chance to end this."

"Huh?" the girl replied as she turned her attention to the black cat. "Me? What can I do? Besides it looks like the Lunar Knight's got this one handled."

"I'm afraid that he has used up too much energy in the battle to finish her. It's up to you now. Use your tiara. Call out 'Moon Tiara Action' and throw it."

Sailor Moon looked at the cat as she thought about it. She was a little bit skeptical of the idea that her tiara could end the fight. However her brief thoughts were interrupted when a familiar voice called to her.

"Sailor Moon."

The senshi looked up to find one of the Lunar Knights standing only a few feet nearby as he looked at the injured youma. The warrior turned his head to look at the sailor senshi before raising his hand up to give her a thumb's up.

"You got this one. Do it."

The senshi stood for a second as she processed her brother's request. Then with a nod of her head, she responded. "Okay!" Sailor Moon removed the tiara from her head which then converted itself into a disc of light. She then brought her bearings on the youma as she cocked her arm back. "Moon Tiara Action." As she spoke the words she let the disc fly like a Frisbee. Morga had gained enough of her senses back to become conscious of the incoming projectile but didn't have the strength to defend against it, so she did the only thing she could do….

She screamed.

_**"UHAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!'**_

As the disk connected with her the entire room was filled with light showing the silhouette of the youma, but as the light died down the youma's body was revealed to have been converted into a stone like statue which soon after crumbled away into a pile of dust and disappeared.

(End Music)

As the youma vanished the various gems and jewels on the customers shattered and the influence over them ceased. Inside his lair Jadeite was continuing to gather energy when he suddenly felt the flow reverse itself and all the energy he collected simply vanished into thin air.

'What? Someone has interfered with my plans, and they will pay dearly for it!'

Since the customers were no longer being controlled, all of the Kage Bushin Lunar Knights vanished in puffs of smoke, leaving the original with the three other beings in the room. Sailor Moon walked over to the spot where the youma had been destroyed and marveled at the memories of their first battle as well as her own ability.

"Wow, did I really do that?" She asked as the Lunar Knight walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"You did. And I'm proud of you. You did an amazing job." The Lunar Knight assured her and even though his mouth was covered by a mask, she could tell that he was smiling at her.

"Thank you, Lunar Knight." Sailor Moon smiled as she responded to his praise. It always felt so good when her brother praised her like that.

"Ah.." The sudden sound caught the duo's attention as they turned to find Naru standing behind them. "….Thank you for saving me. But…Just who are you?"

Lunar Knight turned around to face her and looked right into her eyes, causing her to blush a little at the memories of being held by the man. "You know who we are."

Naru blinked in confusion. "I do?"

Lunar Knight chuckled a bit before replying. "Just you friendly, Neighborhood Senshi."

Naru became even more confused by that statement, but before she could question him further, Lunar Knight turned around and walked towards one of the open windows. "Sailor Moon, it's time to go." And with that, he leapt into the night.

Sailor Moon turned to the redhead and bowed. "It was nice meeting you. See ya." Then she leapt out the window as well. Naru stood there watching the spot where the two had vanished, her mind reeling with questions about what had happened and who the two warriors are and more importantly if she would ever see them again.

She had no idea what fate had in store for her.

Unaware to any of them a lone figure had been watching the entire ordeal from the shadows. The figure stepped out into the light to reveal himself to be a tall man with black hair wearing a tuxedo and hat with a white mask across his eyes. The man looked out into the night sky as he took stock in what he had witnessed. 'I guess my help wasn't needed this time after all. But still, what was with that guy's ability? I've never even heard of something like that before.' Having much to think about the man turned and disappeared. However he was not aware that he had been detected.

- Streets of Juuban -

The moment he left the jewelry store Naruto had sensed the presence of another being nearby, and as he waited for both Usagi and Luna to catch up to him he focused his senses on the presence as so he could commit it to memory should he ever sensed the presence again. It wasn't long before both Usagi and Luna joined up with him and as they walked up Usagi noticed that Naruto was staring rather intensely in the direction of the store.

"What's wrong, Naruto-nii?"

Naruto snapped out of his gazed and looked at his sister and smiled under his mask. "Oh, it's nothing. Just thinking about the fight is all." Naruto fibbed so as not to worry the two, they all had a pretty tiring day and the last thing he wanted was for them to stress about something they couldn't do anything about.

"Yeah, that was some fight, wasn't it? But that was really incredible the way you fought, Naruto-nii. I've never seen anything like it."

Luna nodded her head in agreement with the sailor senshi. "Indeed. That was quite the display of skill and power, young man. You handled that battle exceptionally well."

Naruto stood up straight with his fists resting on his hips and spoke. "Yeah, well….I'm just awesome like that."

Usagi and Luna couldn't help but both laugh and sweat drop at the statement. Naruto then turned to Usagi and put a hand on her shoulder again. "But let's not forget your part in the fight either. You did very well in there, and I am very proud of you, Usagi-neechan." Luna nodded in agreement. Usagi smiled as she reflected upon those words, she had finally done something that she didn't totally mess up and in doing so she helped save many lives. That was something to always be proud of.

Naruto turned around and started to walk again while calling back. "Let's go home you guys. It's getting late and we got school in the morning."

Usagi quickly became downcast at the mention of the word 'school'. "Ah man, why does it have to be a school night? And I still gotta deal with Miss Haruna in the morning too." Usagi grumbled as she started her walk back home as well.

Luna merely sighed as she listened to the girls complaints. She may be a sailor senshi but she was still a teenage girl. Her thoughts turned to the blond boy and the amazing abilities he possessed. Never in her wildest dreams did she think she would find someone of his caliber, and as she moved along to what would be her new home with her wards, she wondered what other surprises was in store for them all.

She also had no idea what fate had in store for them and many others.

- To Be Continued -

[Authors Notes]

Wow. I never thought that my story would get such great reviews. Honestly, I just made this up as is seemed like a good story to create. I really didn't think that everyone would give me such praise about my writing. Anywho, on with the notes…

I told you guys before that this story would be almost strictly canon and that's the direction I went with. I used the anime a lot for this to make up a lot of the story detail. I was never one for what I call "Shake-and-bake" stories (you know the ones I'm talking about) As I do enjoy reading stories with lots of detail as it helps me see the story play out.

Naruto's personality here is something you would figure he would have in this situation. He has fairly good intelligence if not a bit lazy when it comes to studying, a little hot tempered when it comes to personal things but he has a kind heart and would do anything for his friends. He's dealt with the pain he received while in Konoha and only wants to live his life with his adopted family. His martial arts skill will help him in the battles to come and also give him something to relate with Makoto when she appears later, and his gardening skill will also be appreciated as well.

(1) I based Naruto's shadow senshi form off of Altair's assassins robe with a few modifications to fit the story. Why the mask? I figured he needed something to cover those whisker marks up so it wouldn't be THAT easy for someone to draw a comparison to. Plus I got a few comical ideas for it, including a whole chapter later on that centers around it. (hehehe)

(2) Kage Bushin no Jutsu….do I really have to explain that one? The arrival of the Kage Bushin has opened the path for Naruto to use his jutsu skill, however to keep things fair for the Sailor Moon universe I 'm putting a limit on Naruto's abilities. When he's using jutsu his senshi powers are limited greatly, just as when he uses senshi powers, his jutsu will suffer. It wouldn't be much of a story if a overpowered Naruto ran around blowing everything up, now would it?

Next Chapter…..Naruto and Usagi are adapting to their new lives as senshi. When several people start falling into unexplained comas it's up to the senshi to find out what's going on. How does a late night radio station fit into it all? And what sinister evil's will they uncover? Read for yourself in the next chapter - Late Night Radio, The enemy is revealed.

Peace.


	3. Late Night Radio, The Enemy Revealed

Chapter Three: Late Night Radio, The Enemy Revealed.

Beta by Alteris

"Jadeite, present yourself and report."

Queen Beryl sat upon her throne as she once more addressed the gathering of minions in the large throne room. When she had learned that the first attempt to gather the energy of the humans had been met with failure the queen was very displeased, even more so when she had heard that a couple of young teens were responsible for the destruction of one of her prized youma. Beryl voiced her displeasure quite well to her first general and informed him that she expected much more favorable results in his next attempt to harvest energy. Now she sat and waited for said general to outline his latest plan.

"My queen, I report that I have found a new source of energy in the humans. Apparently they expel a large amount of energy on an emotion called 'love'."

"Yes, I have heard of it. And you have a plan to gather this energy?"

"Yes, my queen. I have already dispatched my servant Flau to take full advantage of the human's weakness and harvest their energy for the Dark Kingdom. She awaits my command."

Queen Beryl nodded as she gazed into her crystal ball, once more looking upon Tokyo's skyline. "Very well then. You have my permission to move forward with your plans." The Queen's eyes narrowed as she looked back to Jadeite. "Just try not to disappoint me as you did with your last attempt. I expect much better results this time. That is all."

"By your command, my Queen."

- Night time - Juuban - Tsukino Residence -

We now find our two favorite blond teens turned senshi enjoying a little quality time inside Usagi's room. After the battle with Morga both Naruto and Usagi were able to talk with their new guardian Luna about their jobs as senshi more thoroughly. From what the two learned there were at least nine sailor senshi in existence, one for each planet, that protected the solar system from evil, and that at least five of the nine had been reincarnated on Earth. Luna informed them that they needed to find these four other senshi so that they could awaken there powers and help fight the Dark Kingdom, however Luna could not tell who these individuals were until she got close enough to them to sense there powers, until then Naruto and Usagi were on their own. While Luna was able to tell Usagi about her abilities as Sailor Moon and the sailor senshi in general, she was not able to help Naruto with his powers since the shadow senshi acted as more of a covert force that answered only to the Queen of the Silver Millennium and the respected rulers of the planets, meaning Naruto had to learn these things on his own.

Usagi was currently sitting on her bed in her pink pajamas clutching a pillow as she listened to the radio waiting for a new program to begin its broadcast. Naruto was in a pair of orange sweatshirt and pants sitting cross-legged on the floor as he tinkered with a certain belt. It was at exactly ten o'clock when the program that Usagi was waiting for started.

_"Good evening all you night owls. It's the late night hour, and you know what that means. Time for 'The Love Line.' Tonight we have a very special love letter from a very special lady, reaching out to a long lost friend, whom she would like to get in touch with again. It's signed 'Hopeful Haruna'."_

Inside her apartment, Sakurada Haruna began jumping around as she cheered excitedly hearing that her letter was going to be read on air.

"Haruna?" Usagi spoke out in shock to hear the name of the writer. There was only one person whom she knew was named Haruna. Naruto also perked up when he heard the name of his teacher. "Don't tell me Miss Haruna sent the love line a letter. It can't be her, teachers never have boyfriends."

Naruto turned to Usagi with an amused expression on his face. "And just how would you know that, neechan? Miss Haruna is just as much of a girl as you are. In fact, she probably knows more about love then you do."

Usagi responded by turning to her brother and sticking her tongue out at him.

"Nyyyyyyyy!"

_"Before we read the letter, I just want to tell all our listeners that the 'Love Line' always wants to help the lovelorn. Write us. If we read your letter on the air, we will reward you with a romantic prize."_

Naruto chuckled as he listened to his sister sigh at the radio. Truthfully, he would much rather be listening to Linkin Park but since it was his sister's radio he would just have to make do with it. It was around this time that Luna decided to pay the two a visit as she walked in through the door.

"Ah, evening Luna." Naruto smiled and greeted his new guardian as she walked over towards the two blonds.

"Good evening to you too, Naruto. Are you doing well?" Luna greeted in return.

"I'm good. Just hanging out with Usagi-neechan for a bit while she listens to the radio."

Luna turned to Usagi as the radio DJ begins reading Haruna's letter.

_"Dear lost love, It's been several years since we saw each other, but your never far from my heart.-"_

Usagi sighed out once more as she began to imagine herself as a radio host who helped girls find true love. "I wish I was a love radio DJ, or maybe even a TV host."

Naruto turned back to his sister with a smile on his face. "Well, no one said you couldn't. I think it'd be pretty cool if you had your own radio or TV show, maybe you could get me on it from time-to-time."

Usagi smiled happily, as she continued deeper into the world of her imagination while Luna decided she needed to put her two cents in on the subject.

"Usagi, you're too young to be thinking things like that. You still need to get through school and with your grades that is where you need to be focused right now. And besides, you still have the Dark Kingdom to worry about and the two of you are destined to fight them."

Naruto thought about it for a moment before replying to the guardian feline. "Luna, as true as that might be I doubt we will be fighting the Dark Kingdom forever. One day well beat those sorry monsters back to where they came from and then we'll have our whole lives ahead of us." Naruto reached over and began to scratch Luna's head; his gentle ministrations had the instant effect of making the cat purr. "Besides, it's like you said before, we're still young. So let us have our dreams, ok?" _'He he. She may be a talking cat, but she's still a cat.'_

Luna continued to purr in bliss as she began to lean into Naruto's hand. "I suppose your right, Naruto. _Purrrrrrrr. 'Oh, his fingers feel soooo good.' _Luna had taken an instant liking to the whiskered blond. He showed that he could be brave and dependable and could take control of things when he needed to, not to mention he seemed to know exactly where the right spot behind her ear is to scratch.

Usagi giggled as she watched the two interact with one another when she suddenly took notice of what Naruto had in front of him. "Hey, what is all that Naruto-nii?"

"Huh?" Naruto looked back causing him to stop scratching Luna, said cat pouted a bit from her loss of attention until she too noticed what the boy was tinkering with.

Displayed in front of Naruto was an ornate leather belt with several pouches attached along the length, all opened with their contents removed. Though both Usagi and Luna didn't recognize the belt immediately, had they had both thought hard enough they would have realized that they had seen it once before. Laying neatly above the belt were several sets of white colored kunais, shurikens, senbon needles, paper tags, scrolls, bottles, small pellets and a blade tipped chain that had been organized into their respective groups.

"Oh, you mean this." Naruto said as he picked up the belt to let the two examine it closer. "I thought that I could look at all the things the belt had while you were listening to the radio."

"Where exactly did you get that belt, Naruto?" Luna asked as she inspected the article.

Naruto blinked in confusion before smiling. "Don't tell me you don't remember this. It's a part of my shadow senshi clothes when I transform into the Lunar Knight. I was wearing it when we fought that youma, Morga."

Usagi and Luna blinked a couple of times before their faces lit up in recognition.

"Wow, so that's like some kind of shadow senshi utility belt or something?" Usagi asked as she gave the belt another analyzing look.

"I guess you could call it that." Naruto replied as he laid the belt back on the floor.

Luna walked over and began to examine the numerous items present. "So you are able to bring out items from the Lunar Necklace itself? Where in the world did you find a way to do that?" Luna knew about how the senshi items physically stored the garments they wore when the senshi transformed, however she never knew that someone could actually bring them out without using the transformation.

Naruto scratched the back of his neck as he began to answer the cat's question. "Well, you see, it was the weirdest thing….."

- Flashback - One night before -

Naruto lay in his bed as he soundly slept through the night, his face showing a calm expression while his mind rested through a dreamless slumber. Suddenly his head began to toss about as his mind was suddenly ablaze with activity. Inside of his mind, Naruto finds himself assaulted with a barrage of knowledge. Knowledge pertaining to his shadow senshi abilities. Powers, skills and techniques were flooding his mind as he continued to thrash about on his bed until at last the wave of information ceased its invasion and Naruto bolted up, his breathing slightly labored as he rubbed his forehead, trying to figure out where the foreign knowledge came from. As he started to sort through the new information he now possessed, he failed to notice the moon emblem in his Lunar Necklace glowing a pale white before the light quickly faded away.

- End Flashback -

"….and once I was able to sort through all that new knowledge I got, I found that I was able to pull out the belt when I concentrated some of my energy into the necklace and focused on the item I wanted to withdraw."

Usagi and Luna stared at him for a moment before Luna broke the tension as she spoke. "Well….that was quite unexpected."

Usagi nodded and the glanced at the small arsenal her brother had displayed in front of him. "So, those are all the things that were inside the belt?"

Naruto nodded as he picked up one of the kunais and inspected it. "Yep, standard issue shadow senshi weapons and gear."

"And you had them with you the whole time?"

"That's right."

"So….why didn't you use them in the youma fight?"

"….."

Naruto slowly turned with a sheepish grin on his face as he scratched the back of his head. "Because…..I didn't know about them beforehand." Thinking back now, the fight would have gone a lot easier if he had just checked his belt when he first transformed.

Luna sighed before turning her attention to the clock on the wall. "It's getting late you two. You need to get to bed since you both have school in the morning."

Usagi grumbled under her breath, muttering something about "hating school" and "starts too early" as she settled into her bed while Naruto collected his gear and placed them back into the pouches on his belt. When he finished and made sure that the pouches were secure the boy placed his palm on the center of the belt with one hand and brought his necklace close to it with the other. Applying a little energy to the belt and willing the item to return to the necklace, the belt sudden exploded with a 'poof' into a cloud of smoke before it was drawn back into the emblem. With that accomplished, Naruto put the necklace back on before getting to his feet and heading for the door. As he exited the room, he turned to the two occupants and wished them both a good night, closed the door and headed for his own room to get some much needed sleep.

- Next Morning -

Naruto sat at the breakfast table with his father, Kenji, who was reading the morning paper as the two ate their meals while Ikuko continued to make portions for them in the kitchen. Shingo had already left for school after he quickly downed his food and bolted out the door. As Kenji looked over the paper he noticed that there was a big red circle around the days date on the papers header. Curiosity getting the better of him, he asked his wife.

"Honey, why did you circle the date in red magic marker?"

Ikuko looked sternly at her husband as she brought in some more food to the table. She put the plate down and crossed her arms bringing her eyes level to his. "Oh, did I? Maybe because there is something special about today."

Kenji did some really fast thinking as he folded up the paper, by the time he put it down on the table he remembered what was so special about the day. It was their wedding anniversary.

"Oh, you mean besides it being our anniversary and me taking you out to dinner and dance tonight?"_ 'Thank God I just remembered.'_

Ikuko instantly perked up as she smiled at her husband lovingly. "Ohhohoho. Oh, you did remember." The housewife picked up a piece of toast and offered it to the man. "Say 'ah'." Ikuko happily complied taking a bite out of the bread. Ikuko was a happy and loving woman most of the time, but when something riled her up she could easily strike fear in even the bravest of men. And nothing seemed to make her angrier than when her husband forgets their anniversary, something he had learned the hard way earlier in their marriage.

Naruto looked up as he finished his meal and couldn't help but chuckle a bit as he watched the two interact._ 'Dodged that bullet, didn't you, dad.' _Suddenly the sound of screaming alerted all present that the daughter of the house had awoken. 'Neechan's up.' Naruto thought as he rose from his seat and headed for the door. "Bye mom, Bye dad."

"Bye, sweetie." Ikuko responded as she watched her eldest son leave. Not a moment later Usagi came running into the room, grabbed some toast, and bolted out the door with only a few parting words.

'Hello. Good-bye."

- Juuban Junior High School -

Naruto and Usagi had managed to make it right on time thanks again to the blond boy's knowledge of shortcuts. Now on a usual day the moment the bell rings Miss Haruna immediately gets cracking with the lectures and studies, however today was rather unusual in the fact that it had been fifteen minutes since the tardy bell rang and there was absolutely no sign of Miss Haruna anywhere. As the class waited questions and theories were being thrown back and forth between students.

"Where is she? Miss Haruna never misses class." Usagi asked as she sat in her seat beside Naru, both girls wondering what happened to their tardy teacher, which to students seemed like a complete contradiction.

Naru thought for a moment before speaking. "I guess we'll end up with a substitute today."

"Hey, it'll be a free day then." Usagi chirped about the possibility of taking it easy in class for once.

Setting behind the two girls, Naruto had his head resting on his hands as he was deep in thought._ 'Something doesn't feel right here. I've never seen Miss Haruna miss a class since I entered Junior High.'_

Before Naruto could ponder the situation further, the door to the class room opened to reveal Miss Haruna finally arriving. The entire class gasped out when they saw the state of their teacher. The woman looked absolutely exhausted as she staggered over to her desk. The other thing that different about the usually energetic instructor was the presence of a flower brooch pinned to the left side of her coat. As Haruna literally dragged herself into her seat she tiredly started her lesson….or tried to.

"ok, class…today I want you to….read chapters nineteen…..through six and….get ready to take a…..pop mid-term."

The class sweat-dropped as they listened to their teacher give mixed instructions and gibberish lectures. Unseen to all, the flower brooch pinned on Haruna's jacket began to glow faintly as energy from the red-headed teacher got siphoned inside. As more of her energy left her Haruna became weaker and sleepier.

"….now I want you to keep…. reading your books…and wake me up…when the last bell rings."

With that the woman let out a big yawn before closing her eyes and falling asleep, as well as falling face-first onto her desk with a loud 'thud'. Ouch.

The whole classed stared in a mixture of shock, confusion, and amazement as the teacher whom after hitting her head on the desk hard enough to give anyone a concussion simply snored away as she drifted off to dreamland. Naruto finally shock himself out of his shock and got up to check on his sudden narcoleptic instructor. The boy had known his teacher for a long time and while he had seen her come in tired before, probably from staying out late prowling for potential boyfriends, he had never seen her just fall asleep in mid lecture before. So with some concern he made his way up to the slumbering woman. As he placed a hand on her shoulder, his senses kicked in as his abilities allowed him to feel a person's energy within close proximity while he was not in senshi form.

_'Whoa! Miss Haruna's completely drained.'_ Naruto thought as he started to shake the woman in an attempt to awaken her. "Miss Haruna. Wake-up. Miss H.?"

Usagi watched her brother attempt to rouse Miss Haruna awake and spoke out in a cheery tone. "C'mon Naruto-nii, let her sleep. We can just relax the day away until school lets out if she's not making us study."

Naruto turned and fixed a mild glare into his sister to let her know how serious the situation was before returning to his attempts to wake the sleeping teacher.

- Streets of Juuban -

Luna moved about the busy streets in search of a place to set up communications with central control, the organization that was aiding her in her quest to find the sailor senshi. As she looked about she reflected on her mission and achievements so far. In the last week she had not only found and awakened the senshi of the moon but also had discovered a shadow senshi as well and aided them in eliminating a youma, thereby throwing a monkey wrench into the Dark Kingdom's plans. Although it was a major victory towards the senshi Luna knew that they would be on the move again very soon. Luna started to think about the two wards now under her watch. Usagi was a very cheerful girl, however she could be a bit selfish and a crybaby at times as well as being a bit lazy, clumsy and was not so motivated when it came to her studies. Despite the girls shortcomings though, she was very kind and caring and always tried to see the better side of things. The cat had to admit that she was somewhat surprised at how well she kept herself cool under pressure during the youma fight and how she turned her opponent's attack into her own, no doubt something she picked up from her brother and his influence over her, which brought her to the second blond of the picture.

Naruto was a complete surprise to her. Not only was she not expecting to find a shadow senshi on earth as she believed that they had all been wiped out, but he was Usagi's adopted brother and lived under the same roof. Now this was defiantly a blessing to her. Naruto showed a lot of the traits of a leader. He was kind, gentle and friendly and at the same time he was cool, calm and focused when he needed to be. He had the ability to analyze a situation and come up with an immediate plan to resolve a crisis. He was strong and skilled, something that became quite apparent when he fought toe-to-toe with the youma in the jewelry store earlier. But what really got the guardian cat's attention was when he displayed an ability that she had never seen before. The blond's ability to make solid copies of himself was something that left her dumbfounded. She had never heard of anyone who could outright make clones of oneself, though she had already admitted that she was never told about the abilities of the shadow senshi, however seeing it in action she was absolutely thrilled that they had such an amazing weapon at their disposal as it meant that they could level the field in the event that the enemy calls for reinforcements.

"Yes, I think that Naruto will make an invaluable asset to the group, and an excellent leader for the team." Luna spoke out as she came to a stop in front of the doors to the Game Crown Arcade, which just so happened to open up to reveal Furuhata Motoki getting ready for another day of work.

"Well, hello there. You must be Luna."

Luna nearly freaked out at how close she came to blowing her cover, and it hadn't even been a month since she came to the city. She quickly regained her composure and fell into character of a typical domestic house cat, meowing and mewing in order to keep the man from getting suspicious of her. As she continued acting, Luna realized exactly whom she had run into.

_'This must be one of Naruto's and Usagi's friends. The one that Usagi has a crush on.'_

Motoki knelt down and began to rub Luna's head as he continued to speak. "You know Naruto and Usagi had told me about you the other day. Don't tell me that you're here to play video games too."

As Luna began to think about the arcade she realized that it was actually an ideal place to set up shop at. It was conveniently located between the Tsukino house and the school so it was ideal for when new information or trouble pops up.

"Well, as much as I'd like to stay and play with you, I gotta get ready for work. I'll see ya later, Luna." With that, the blond arcade owner stood up and walked back inside, leaving Luna to her thoughts.

"Yes, this place will do nicely. I'll just have to sneak in later and tinker around with one of the machines and I'll have a working communication system in no time. It's perfect." Luna spoke out once more as she was sure that no one was around this time to hear her. She was gonna have to be very careful not to make the same mistake again. Just then the sound of a siren caught her attention as an ambulance rolled past her heading down the street. Luna followed it with her eyes and realized that it was heading for the school. Although she wanted to find out what had transpired she couldn't afford to go and look for curiosity's sake, she had much planning to do.

- Juuban Junior High School - A short time later -

The ambulance arrived at the school and in a matter of minutes a still sleeping Haruna was loaded inside the vehicle which departed for the nearest hospital. Miss Haruna's class watched from their window on the second floor of the school, worrying about their teacher. No one should be able to stay asleep after a full hour of attempts to wake the woman, especially after the stunt pulled by Naruto.

- Flashback - Half an hour earlier -

Naruto was continuing his attempts to awaken Miss Haruna from a sleep that even the dead could not achieve. The blond boy had tried everything he could think of, pinching, poking, shaking, slapping lightly, slapping harder, slapping even harder, outright slapping, dousing her with a cup of water, dousing her with a bucket of water, no matter what he tried the teacher continued to sleep. The whole class was both shocked and amused by the attempts the blond made and were starting to get a little worried for the woman as Naruto was looking like he was getting desperate.

Usagi decided to voice her concern in hopes that Naruto would not try something that might cause Miss Haruna harm. "Uh, you know Naruto-nii, we might want to call the principle here. We might have better luck at waking her."

Naruto, however, was not going to be deterred by his sister's advice. He still had one more idea to try. Walking over to the corner of the class Naruto produced a pail of ice water from God knows where, placed it on the desk in front of the teacher, grabbed her by the shoulders and proceeded to dunk the woman's head face first into the pail. The class gasped out in shock and spoke out at the blond's extreme measure.

"What are you doing?"

"Are you crazy?"

"Oh, she's gonna be pissed."

Naruto ignored the class as he watched air bubbles rising up from the water around Haruna's submerged face before pulling her back out. Now he and the entire class was expecting to find a very awake and extremely irate teacher on their hands and was pretty sure that Naruto was gonna be getting a week's worth of detention and extra homework as punishment for his little stunt, however the only response they got was a certain sound escaping the teachers lips.

"Zzzzzzzzzzzz….Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz…."

The jaws of every member of the classroom were now resting squarely on their desks as they stared at the teacher wide eyed, nobody was able to say a thing as Miss Haruna continued to imitate a sawing log. Naruto glared as his right eyebrow twitched uncontrollably as he summed up his failed attempts with a single internal thought.

_'Ok. Seriously. What the hell?!'_

- End Flashback -

It was after that when Naruto had relented and called for the principle to come and help out, although he had a hell of a time explaining why Miss Haruna was half way drenched with water. When the faculty had no luck reviving the sleeping woman they called for the paramedics. As the class continued to throw theories for their teachers sudden sleep disorder, Naruto stayed silent as he thought about the situation.

_'Something's not right here. Miss Haruna has never just upped and fell asleep in the middle of class before, and after everything I did to her she should have been screaming for my blood. Add to the fact that her energy was almost non-existent, it just doesn't make sense. Unless…..'_

"Hey Naruto-nii, what do you think happened to her?"

Naruto was brought out of his inner thoughts by his sister's question as he turned to her and shook his head.

"I don't know neechan. I'm not sure why she would fall asleep like that." The blond may have said that, but he had a good idea of why this happened. He just couldn't say it out loud in a room full of people.

"Maybe she has some kind of sleeping sickness." Umino spoke up, deciding to add his say in the discussion.

Usagi put her finger on her chin as she adopted a thing pose. "This is really weird. I mean, I've never heard of a teacher falling asleep at her desk before."

Naru decided to join in as well. "Maybe she stayed up late listening to that new show, the Love Line. I'm felling kind of tired myself since I stayed up late listening to it past midnight."

"But that still doesn't explain how she stayed asleep during Naruto's torture session." Umino stated as he readjusted his glasses.

The group just shrugged as Usagi looked at the empty desk of their homeroom teacher. "Well, since class is canceled I guess it means we got up for nothing." The blond turned back to her friend and brother. "So….who's up for shopping?" Usagi asked with a smile on her face. That girl was gonna milk the situation for all it was worth.

- Juuban Business District - FM No. 10 Radio Station -

As the workers of the city's premier radio station continued about their daily duties, several personnel were finding themselves in a rather unique and perplexing situation. Many were currently standing before a large mound of letters addressed to the station. While it was not uncommon for letters to be received by the station, in fact it happened all the time, it was the fact that these letters were all addressed to the attention of a program called 'The Love Line,' a program that to everyone's knowledge didn't exist.

As the group sifted through the large amounts of fan mail the director in charge spoke up. "Tell me something, why in the world are we receiving letters for a program that doesn't even exist?"

"I don't know, sir. I've never even heard of this 'Love Line' show, and nobody I've talked to seems to know either." One of the aids spoke up as he continued to sort through the pile.

"Well someone needs to find out what's going on. In the meantime, we need to do something with all these letters."

Just as the group finished sorting and binning the letters, a woman approached. She was an attractive lady with short red hair, pale skin, and a hour glass figure. "Are those the letters for the new 'Love Line' broadcast, sir?" The woman spoke, gaining the attention of the group of workers.

"You know something about all this, ma'am?" The director asked as he eyed the woman for a second.

The smiled and replied. "Yes, I've been sent specially."

"Did headquarters send you?" The man asked a bit more warily, it appeared that this woman wasn't going to be as easy as he thought. He wasn't in the mood to get into trouble for hitting on a lady who had ties with H.Q.

He never noticed the red heads eyes flicker as she chuckled a bit before replying once more. "You can say that."

- Streets of Juuban -

After leaving the school, the group of friends had split up for the day with Usagi and Naru heading for the shopping district while Naruto headed for the hospital having decided to check on Miss Haruna's condition. As they walked along the busy streets the two ladies conversed between one another about the usual girl stuff. During the conversation Naru decided to inform her best friend about the little project she was working on.

"I'm gonna write the perfect love letter so it will get read on the air by the Love Line DJ."

"But Naru, you don't even have a boyfriend. How are you gonna write a letter to someone who doesn't exist." Usagi asked as she tried to figure out her friends reasoning.

Naru turned her head and smiled. "It's quite simple, Usagi. I'm gonna just invent one to write about." The red head put a finger to her chin as she thought. _'Maybe I can use Naruto-kun.' _It would come as no big surprise for anyone to know that the girl had a slight crush on the whiskered blond. Then again, so did the rest of the schools female population.

Usagi smiled as she thought the idea over in her head. "Hey, yeah, that's a great idea. You could make the ideal guy." The blond girl blushed a bit as she started thinking of what would go in a perfect boyfriend. "He'd be smart, funny, considerate, nice, a real gentleman, and totally cool." _'Kind of like Naruto-nii.'_

"AH-CHOO!"

Inside Juuban Secondary General Hospital a certain whiskered blond boy rubbed his nose after a very big sneeze. _'Someone's thinking about me.' _Naruto thought as he continued to watch over his slumbering teacher in hopes that someone in the hospital could help wake her up.

Meanwhile, Usagi had just finished her train of thought when she absentmindedly bumped into someone resulting in the girl falling backwards on her posterior. Realizing that she had just ran into a person because she wasn't paying attention, she was quick to get on her feet and apologize.

"I'm so sorry, please forgive my rudeness." The girl said as she bowed her head to the person. However instead of a proper reply, she got a barrage of laughter aimed at her. When she looked up she saw the one person she really didn't want to see, the very same guy that had insulted her and Naruto outside of the Osa-P Jewelry store. As the man finished his bout of laughter he looked at the girl with a smug grin on his face.

"What was that you just said about someone being cool, 'cause it certainly isn't you."

Usagi glared at the guy as he continued his insults.

"Shouldn't a girl like you be home studying right now? You certainly don't want to fail your next test like you did the last one. Well, I gotta run. See ya around, Meatball-head." And with that, the man pushed past with a final parting laugh.

"Don't call me that you jerk." Usagi growled out as she glared daggers into the back of the guy's head.

Naru walked up to her now steaming best friend. "Wow, Usagi, you and Mamoru don't get along too well, huh?"

"Yeah, well, that guy can go jump in the lake for all I care. Man, I wish Naruto-nii was here, he'd put that guy in his place." Usagi huffed as she turned and began to walk again. She also filed the man's name away for later and would also ask her friend how she knew his name in the first place.

- Tsukino Residence - Night-time -

Usagi and Luna were waiting patiently in the blond girl's room for the 'Love Line' to air for the night. When Usagi got home earlier she had decided to right her own love letter for the program and had sat about the task with Luna watching intently. However it would seem that the girl's idea was doomed to fail before it even got started as she found herself with a major case of writers block and as such not a single word was written down. When Luna commented on the girl's lack of progress, somehow it convinced Usagi to present herself to the station. Now how the blond's thoughts went from writing a letter to self-auditioning at a radio station is beyond anyone's guess. So with that Usagi, with Luna reluctantly in tow, made their way to the station. However there progress was immediately impeded when the guardsman at the front gate denied them access to the station under the notion that the program the young girl had informed him of did not exist. After a short argument with the man the two made their way back home.

Knowing what they had heard on the radio last night, the two wanted to confirm their claim as they waited for the ten o'clock hour to arrive. As they waited there came a small knock on the door as Naruto made his way into the room.

"Hey, guys." The boy greeted as he closed the door and joined his sister sitting on the bed.

"Hey, Naruto-nii. Did Miss Haruna ever wake up?" Usagi asked as she readjusted herself so she was right beside her brother.

Naruto looked over while shaking his head. "No, she's still out. She showed absolutely no sighs of waking up."

"So, the hospital wasn't able to do anything for her?"

"They said that it seemed like normal sleep but they don't know why she won't wake up the normal stimulation, and until they can figure out what is causing this their afraid to try anything that might hurt her."

Usagi rolled over to lie on her back as she pondered the situation. "Man, this is just so weird."

"Is it, neechan?" Naruto asked as he got up off the bed and moved to a wall to lean against while he addressed the two other members of the group. "Is it really so strange for this to happen?"

"What do you mean, Naruto-nii?" Usagi asked she sat up straight on the bed. Luna was also intrigued by Naruto's question.

"What I mean is this situation is a lot similar to the one we found ourselves in when we fought that youma. I never said anything earlier back in class, but when I touched Miss Haruna after she fell asleep, I sensed that her energy had been drained from her. On top of that, I had overheard the hospital staff say that there were several cases of people falling asleep and remaining asleep in the Juuban area over the past week."

Luna's eye's widened as she listened to the blond's statement. "Are you saying that the Dark Kingdom is behind this?"

Naruto nodded. "Yep, it looks like their back in business. So now the only question is where they have set up shop."

It was then that Usagi's clock chimed signaling the ten o'clock hour as the radio cut on once again.

_"It's the late night hour. Time, once again, for 'The Love Line.'_

Usagi instantly perked up as she moved in front of the radio. "I knew I had heard right. That guard didn't know what he was talking about." The blond stated as she listened to the broadcast.

Luna, meanwhile, had decided to look through the local paper for the radio schedule. When she found it, she was a bit surprised that the program was not listed anywhere in the line-up. "This show started fairly recently, right? So why is it not listed in the paper?"

Naruto turned his attention to the cat and walked up to her. "Let me see that." Luna allowed the boy to take the paper and examine it. Sure enough the program known as 'Love Line' was not listed in the line-up for the station. "Hey, neechan. Just how long has this program been running?"

"About a week now. Why?"

Naruto didn't reply as he cupped his chin with his hand in thought. 'The same time as when the people started falling into dead sleeps. I wonder…..'

While Naruto continued to ponder, Usagi turned her attention back to the radio.

_"Our love letter for the night is addressed to a very lucky mystery man from a wonderful secret admirer named Naru."_

"What! Naru got a letter read on the Love Line?" Usagi spoke out in shock.

- FM No. 10 Radio Station -

Inside one of the broadcast rooms of the station, Flau, a youma disguised as the red head woman from before, stood as she watched a certain blond-haired man speak into the microphone of the radio with Naru's letter in hand. They youma chuckled a bit before thinking to herself.

_'With all of the fan mail we have been receiving, this show is going to continue for a very long time. And that means plenty of energy for us to harvest for the Dark Kingdom. Queen Beryl will be most pleased.'_

Inside of the recording both, the man continued to talk into the microphone.

"Now remember, listeners. Every night we will read these letters and for every letter we read we will send a very special prize to the sender the next morning."

The man picked up a item off of the desk in front of him and examined it. The item was a flower brooch, the very same kind that Miss Haruna was wearing that morning. The man began to grin and chuckle as he eyed the brooch, pleased with himself at how well his plan was proceeding.

- Juuban Junior High School - The next morning -

Class was anything but normal the next day, since Miss Haruna was still out, the class had been assigned a substitute and had been ordered to do independent study for the day. However there was hardly any studying going on at the time since the class was abuzz about Naru's letter being read on the air the night before. As the DJ had promised, Naru had received a present from the station first thing in the morning and she was very excited to show off a little to her friends. She held the unopened package up to show the group that had gathered around her.

"Was that your letter on the radio, Naru?" One of the friends asked as she watched her friend smile.

"Uh-huh. I couldn't believe it was read, I thought I was gonna faint back there."

"So, who was the lucky guy you wrote to?"

Naru blushed a bit as she replied. "Oh, just some guy I was thinking about." The red head stole a quick glance over her shoulder to see Naruto enjoying some light reading. _'I wonder if he heard my letter.'_

"So, what are you waiting for Naru, open the gift already." Usagi said eager to see what her best friend had received.

"Ok. Here goes." Naru opened the package and pulled out a familiar flower brooch. As the girls marveled over its beauty, Usagi quickly recognized the accessory.

"Hey, isn't that the same brooch Miss Haruna wore yesterday?"

The question brought Naruto out of his reading as he turned his attention to the group of young ladies.

"Wait, doesn't that mean that she was 'Hopeful Haruna?'" One of the girls asked.

"Yeah, it has to be."

_'Guess Naruto-nii was right, earlier.'_

Naru quickly affixed the brooch to her uniform. As soon as the flower was in place it began to glow faintly as the girls energy began to be siphoned into the item, and with her energy leaving her, Naru began to feel very drowsy.

"What's going on…I feel…..so…..tired." The red head let out a small yawn before her eyes closed and she fell asleep.

"Naru….Naru, are you ok? Wake-up." Usagi spoke as she tried to awaken her friend. However, the brooch was still gathering energy and when Usagi leaned in close enough the brooch began to steal her energy as well. It only took a few seconds for Usagi to join Naru in sweet slumber as she fell to the floor with a 'thump'.

Naruto watched his sister suddenly collapse and was instantly by her side. "Usagi-neechan. Wake-up. Hey, neechan. C'mon." The boy shook his sister trying to wake her. When all he got was slight mumbling, he picked her up bridal style and looked to the group of girls. "I'm taking her to the nurse's office. I'll be right back to get Naru as well." And with that, Naruto darted out of the room with Usagi asleep in his arms.

- Usagi's Dream World -

Usagi dreamed that she was flying through the moonlight night. Nothing but her, Mr. Moon, and the clouds below. She softly giggled to herself. There was nothing wrong in this world of hers, no danger, no homework, nothing to interrupt her tranquility as she soared through the air. This was truly her little piece of heaven. As she continued her dream flight, she caught sight of something. It was a man from what she could tell as she approached the figure. The person was wearing a long white cape and had light blond spiky hair. She could tell that the person had a good build on him the way he filled out the cape.

"Um, excuse me. Who are you and why are you in my dreams?" Usagi asked as she floated down behind the person.

The man turned his head, showing Usagi part of his face as his hair cast a shadow over his eyes, but from what she could see the guy was quite handsome. Usagi blushed as the man smiled and spoke. "You know who I am, my dear Usagi." The man spoke in a voice that was honey to her ears.

Usagi blushed deepened a bit at the man's response. "I…I do?"

The man just stood there looking at her over his shoulder. Even though she could not see his eyes she swore he was raising an eyebrow to her response. "You don't know?"

Usagi responded again as she shook her head. Was this really someone she knew?

The man chuckled a bit. As fast as Usagi could blink, the man had instantly closed the distance between them and held her in an embrace. Usagi started to blush up a storm as she could feel him holding her tenderly, his right hand pressing into the small of her back as his left hand held the back of her head. His own head was now hovering over her left shoulder as he whispered into her ear. "Well then, I guess I'll have to tell you."

Usagi breathing got a little heavy as she could just feel the warmth of the mans body, not to mention the firm muscles pressing against her and his gentle breath tickling her ear. This was one dream she did not want to wake up from, and she confirmed that with her thoughts.

_'Please, don't wake me up. Please, don't wake me up. Please, don't wake me up. Please, don't wake me up. Please, don't wake me up.'_

Just when she was about to lose control, grab the man's face and start kissing him silly, identity be damned, the man leaned in closer to her ear, took a deep breath…..and yelled.

"WAKE UP, NEECHAN!"

- Reality -

Usagi shot straight up out of bed as she kicked and screamed before gravity finally took hold again and sent her bouncing back down on the mattress. The girl looked around franticly in an effort to regain her bearings before finally noticing Naruto standing beside her bed. The boy breathed out a sigh of relief to see his sister back in the world of the living.

"Thank goodness, I thought I was never gonna wake you up."

Usagi blinked a couple of times, and then she started to glare and growl at the boy, who suddenly took a step back from the frightening girl.

"Damn it, Naruto-nii! Just when it was getting good!" Usagi screamed out as she continued to glare at her brother.

"Uh….sorry?" Naruto responded as he scratched the back of his head.

Usagi huffed as she crossed her arms and looked away from Naruto to find Naru sleeping on a neighboring bed. Usagi got up from her bed and walked up to her best friend, her face filled with worry. "Naru. What happened to her?"

Naruto walked up beside his sister and looked down at the red head. "She's in the same dead sleep that Miss Haruna fell into. Nobody's been able to wake her up."

Usagi became even more worried for her as she placed her hand on the girls forehead. "How could this happen?" The blond asked as she gently rubbed Naru's head.

Naruto turned his gaze to the brooch still attached to Naru's uniform. "If my suspicions are correct, it has something to do with this flower here. And I think I know a way to confirm it." Naruto then raised his hand and held it over the flower, as he did this he began to channel his energy through his arm and allowed it to gather around in his palm. Upon sensing the buildup of energy the flower began to pull it into itself. Naruto felt the energy being leached by the flower and quickly pulled his hand back and cut the flow of energy to his arm. With a nod he spoke out. "That's it alright. Looks like the Dark Kingdom is using these flowers to drain people of their strength."

Usagi gasped as she realized what that meant. "That means that their using the radio station as a base."

"Precisely, and it also means we're gonna be paying it a little visit tonight. Let's head for home and inform Luna of what's going on, then we can prepare ourselves."

- FM No. 10 Radio Station - Later that Night -

After the two siblings returned home and brought Luna up to date on everything that happened the trio waited for nightfall before sneaking out of the house and making their way to the radio station. Upon arriving the group found their first obstacle, the very same security guard that stop Usagi the night before.

"Oh great. It's that guard again. How are we gonna get past Mr. so-serious-about-his-work over there?" Usagi asked as the trio knelt down to discuss their plan of entry.

Luna gave the girl a wink as she responded to her question. "I've have just the thing." Luna proceeded to perform a flip in the air, this time producing a pink pen with a red diamond affixed to the top. Usagi picked the pen up while marveling at its design.

"Wow, is this another one of your items Luna?"

Luna nodded in response. "Yes, it's called the Lunar Pen and it is a powerful item that allows you to transform into anything you desire to be. All you have to do is call out 'Disguise Power' and then tell it what you want to be."

Usagi looked at the pen in absolute fascination. "Oh wow. This is gonna be so cool." Without any further delay, Usagi held the pen above her and called out.

"Disguise Power. Transform me into a sophisticated talent agent."

As the power of the pen came to life, the diamond glowed as bands of rainbow light arced around the jewel. When the bands finished their circle they exploded outward in a pink light. The light completely enveloped Usagi with only her silhouette was visible. When the light died down it revealed a transformed version of the blond girl.

Usagi now appeared as an older version of herself, somewhere around the age of twenty-three or so. Her hair had changed from her long twin ponytails to neck length wavy. She wore a long sleeve pink dress and a short skirt. She finished off her new look with a pair of white high heels.

Usagi took a brief moment to take in her new appearance before beginning to giggle like the schoolgirl she was. "Wow, it really worked."

"Hey, not bad Neechan. It suits you." Naruto commented as he gave her his fox smile and a thumbs up. He really did think that she looked stunning in that form.

"Thank you, Naruto-nii." Usagi smiled back at the praise, then she blinked when she realized something. "Hey, what about you? You can't go in there without disguising yourself as well. Do you have another one of these pens on you, Luna?" The girl/woman asked as she turned to the guardian cat.

Luna shook her head sadly. "No, I only had the one pen. I'm sorry but you might have to find another way in Naruto."

Naruto just chuckled a bit before he gave a wink. "Actually, I've already got something just for such an occasion." The blond boy took a few steps before putting his hands together, forming the hand signs Inu, I, and Hitsuji before calling out. "Henge no Jutsu." (1)

There was a 'pop' as Naruto was instantly enveloped in a cloud of smoke. When the smoke dissipated Usagi and Luna found a different person in the exact spot Naruto was occupying. The person was a man, around the same age of his disguised sister. He had slicked back light blond hair and ocean blue eyes and was bare of any whisker marks. He was wearing a blue business suit and matching pants with a black tie. Black formal shoes finished his appearance.

"This should do the trick." The man spoke in a deep, mature voice that befit his image.

"Na…Naruto-nii?" Usagi asked as she found herself completely dumbfounded that her brother would have another amazing ability. Luna was in a very similar state.

"Yep, it's me alright. What do you think? It's my own transformation ability I got from that weird dream earlier. Pretty cool, huh?" The disguised Naruto responded as he grinned at the two individuals reactions. He just loved surprising people and this ability would definitely give him endless hours of entertainment.

Luna finally pulled herself out of her shock enough to speak. "My word, that is an incredible ability, Naruto. I must say that it even puts the power of the Lunar Pen to shame." The cat then put a paw to her chin as she thought over something. "You know, I recall someone saying that the Lunar Pen was made to mimic a certain ability that the shadow senshi possessed. Hmm, guess he now know what that ability was."

"Well, now that we are properly disguised I think it's time we got this show on the road." Naruto spoke as he walked up to his sister and offered her an arm. "Shall we?"

Usagi gave a nod and took the offered appendage as the two began to walk towards the stations front gate. Only a slight mishap stopped them briefly when Usagi stumbled a bit as she was not used to wearing high heels. The only thing that kept the blond girl from meeting the concrete was her grip on her brother's arm. After recomposing herself the two made their way up to the gate and after some fast talking to the guard gained access to the station. Luna was easily able to evade the guards notice as she stealthily moved around the man and dashed inside to meet up with the heroic duo. After some searching the trio found the broadcast room they were searching for and right on time as the show was just getting started. Gazing through the doors window the three surveyed room and quickly spotted a red haired woman looking into the recording booth while several men appeared to be out cold on the floor.

"Ooh boy, that's my kind of job. Everyone is sleeping." Usagi stated as she looked through the porthole.

Naruto shock his head slightly. "I don't think their sleeping."

Luna narrowed her eyes as she watched from her perch on Naruto's shoulder. "It's the Dark Kingdom, I'm certain of it. We have to stop them now"

Naruto straightened himself as Luna jumped off the boy. "Alright then. It's time to lay down the law." Naruto declared as he prepared to go into action. In one swift motion he grabbed the door handle and threw the door open, startling the woman inside as the two blonds rushed in.

"Who the hell are you? What do you think you're doing?" The woman glared as the two intruders stared her down.

"Show's over, red. This program has just been canceled." Emphasizing his 'point', the blond boy flicked his wrist causing a white kunai he had hidden up his sleeve to eject out into his hand. In an instant he threw the kunai at the control console causing it to crackle and fizz as the blade tore through the delicate circuitry, putting an abrupt and permanent stop to the broadcast.

The disguised youma looked at the ruined control board before turning back to the blond duo with hatred in her eyes. "Just who the hell do you think you are?"

Naruto simply smirked as he responded. "We're the ones who are gonna kick your sorry youma ass all the way back to the Dark Kingdom, bitch."

Flau's eyes widened as she realized that this man knew what she was. "How do you know what I am?"

"Easy, I can smell a youma from a mile away. And baby, you reek." Even outside of his shadow senshi state he had some sensory ability and being that close to her he could feel the aura coming off this woman.

The man sitting inside the booth had noticed the disturbance going on outside. As he stood up the being seemed to 'flicker' out of existence before phasing back in right beside the angry youma.

"Well, well, what have we here? Interlopers." Jadeite commented as he smirked at the two disguised senshi.

Usagi took a step back as she flinched ender the man's disturbing gaze. "Is he a youma, too?"

"Careful neechan, this one's got a hell of a lot of power." Naruto stared at the man, gauging his strength. He could feel the intense power radiating off of him and he was definitely much stronger then the youma he was standing next to or the one they had fought earlier. The boy didn't quite know what to make of him but one thing was for sure, this guy was no push-over.

The man laughed sinisterly at the other male's observation. "You are quite perceptive; indeed I am no mere youma. I am Jadeite, one of the four generals of the Dark Kingdom." Jadeite's eyes narrowed as an evil smirk appeared on his face. "You should know it…before you die."

"Sorry, pal. We're not planning on dying today." Naruto spoke as he shifted into a battle stance, ready to move in an instant. Usagi followed her brother's lead and did the same.

"Well that's too bad; you're going to die anyways. Flau, eliminate them."

"Yes, my lord." The red haired woman responded as her disguise dissolved revealing her true self. The youma became taller as hair became longer and wavy. Her skin gained a purple tint and her eyes turned red and yellowish. She wore a single piece cloth that looked like a toga and she possessed a scar on her forehead similar to the one on Morga's face. _**"Time to die!" **_Flau shouted out as she opened her mouth and a blast of energy shout forth from her throat and towards the two heroes.

"Dodge it!" Naruto shouted as the two jumped back to avoid the attack. The explosion forced the siblings into the hall where they ran to put some distance between them and their opponents.

"I think now would be a really good time for you two to transform." Luna suggested as she quickly caught up with the blonds.

Naruto looked down at the cat and nodded. "Yeah, I think your right. Sailor Moon, let's do it."

Usagi also nodded. "Right."

"Moon Prism Power, Make-up!"

"Lunar Power, Transformation!"

As the two finished the transformation sequences, the Dark Kingdom agents appeared in the hallway, coming face-to-face with the Earth's protectors in their combat forms. The senshi turned as they made their introductions.

"I am Sailor Moon, the champion of justice."

"I am the Lunar Knight, protector of the innocent."

Sailor Moon: "In the name of the moon, we will right wrongs…"

Lunar Knight: "…And triumph over evil."

Both: "And that means YOU!"

Jadeite merely snickered at the duo's proclamation and spoke. "My, that's a pretty serious statement, but I wonder if you have the strength to back it up."

"Oh, trust me. We got enough power to kick your ass twice over." Lunar Knight boldly stated as he prepared for the immanent attack.

Jadeite's eyes narrowed as he heard the masked senshi's response. "Well then, we'll just have to see if your right."

And just like that, the fight was on as Flau lunged forward firing shot after shot of energy blasts at the senshi. Lunar Knight quickly discovered that they were at a very big disadvantage from the start. The confinement of the hallway they were in was preventing the duo from effectively dodging the range attacks of the youma, who seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself as she watched the two senshi desperately jump and dive around to avoid her blasts.

Lunar Knight barely dodged another blast as he flew and rolled on the floor before righting himself in a crouch. He didn't like this one bit. The explosive power of the youma's attacks was preventing either Sailor Moon or himself from effectively countering the enemy, and with them practically bottled up inside the hallway the youma didn't have to use much effort in targeting them. They were practically fish in a barrel. _'This is ridiculous. There's gotta be a way to put some distance between us and that youma.'_ The masked Senshi thought as he quickly scanned his surroundings. It would suddenly seem that luck had come to them as he spotted a large hole in the ceiling that had been created by one of Flau's attacks and lead straight up to the roof of the station. _'That's it!'_ "Sailor Moon, over here!" Lunar Knight shouted to his partner as she has nearly blasted away by another explosion. The blond girl dove behind him as he reached into one of his pouches, pulled out several pellets and threw them at the enemy. Upon making contact with the floor the pellets suddenly exploded into a large smoke cloud which covered the entire hallway and had the added effect of chocking the two Dark Kingdom agents. As the youma and general coughed and gagged on the smoke, Lunar Knight quickly turned to his fellow senshi and gestured to the hole in the roof. "Up there. Go!" With a nod, the girl jumped through the gap with Lunar Knight following closely behind.

When the smoke cleared and the two were finally able to breathe again, Jadeite and Flau found themselves alone in a destroyed hallway with no senshi in sight. Flau growled as she looked around trying to locate her prey._** "Damn it. Where'd they go."**_

Jadeite was also a little pissed that the two senshi had managed to pull a disappearing trick on them. "Flau, find them and destroy them. Do not let them get away."

_**"Yes, my lord." **_Flau responded to her general's command and proceeded to search for the two heroes.

- Rooftop -

Lunar Knight and Sailor Moon knelt down behind one of the air conditioning units on the roof. When the two senshi made out they had quickly accessed their new environment and found it ideal for dealing with the blast happy youma as it provided both room to maneuver as well as various cover, something that the hallway below definitely lacked. Taking the chance to get a breather from the fighting they started to make plans. Lunar Knight took the moment to go over everything in his head. The youma, Flau, seemed to consistently use her energy attack from a distance, so by logic meant that she was not as effective in close range combat. Not saying that she was weak, no he was certain that if the youma get her claws into either of them the outcome would be rather….grim. By his figuring if the youma were to come into a short range attack she would get sloppy and be more prone to mistakes. This was the key to their victory. The only problem was Jadeite. The man had not made a single move during the fight, deciding to let his minion deal out the damage, but this only meant that they should be extremely cautious with him. From what Lunar Knight could feel through his sensor ability and the fact that he held the high rank of general, he was sure that this guy was dangerous. Should he decide to join in on the battle, it would be a very catastrophic. So the masked senshi made his decision.

Lunar knight turned to his partner and spoke. "Sailor Moon, I want you to listen to me carefully." Said girl immediately looked up and listened as he continued. "It's not going to take long for them to figure out where we are. When they come, I want you to take care of that youma."

"Ehh? Me? But….what are you going to do?" Sailor Moon asked, clearly surprised that he would ask her to take on Flau by herself.

"I'm going to deal with Jadeite. We can't afford to let him join in on the battle. I'll keep him occupied while you fight that amazon reject. Besides, I want to ask him something."

"But, how do I fight her when she keeps on blasting everything?"

"This rooftop provides a lot of cover, and you can dodge more easily here. Plus, I've been thinking, since she seems to favor that ranged attack so much, she's probably not too comfortable with melee. Find a way to bring her in close."

"And just how do I do that?" Sailor Moon asked, understandably skeptical of this idea.

Lunar Knight gave her an eye smile as he responded. "I've been in a ton of fights when we were younger, neechan, and I've found that a little taunting goes a long way." He looked at her seriously as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "You can do this, Sailor Moon, I believe in you."

Sailor Moon stared at her brother for a moment before steeling herself and nodded. Lunar Knight returned the nod with one of his own before turning his head. "There here." Looking back at her, he gave one last nod. "You know what to do. Good luck." And with that, the masked senshi quickly made his way across the roof to where he sensed the youma general appear. Meanwhile Sailor Moon readied herself for her fight with the youma.

Flau hovered over the rooftop scanning for her quarry. After she had searched the interior of the building for the senshi she discovered the hole in the roof and after putting two and two together, wasted no time in flying through the hole in search of the two heroes. She was anxious to give them a one way ticket into oblivion, compliments of air Flau. _**"Where are they?" **_The youma asked out loud as she looked across the rooftop.

Sailor Moon poked her head out from behind the unit and looked up to see the youma in midair. _'Great, this one can fly too.'___She thought as she took a deep breath before breaking cover and walking into the open. "It's about time you showed up, ugly. Don't you know you're not supposed to keep a girl waiting?"

Flau spun around to meet the girl as a big grin appeared on her face. _**"Ah, so you finally decided to come out and play. Where's your friend at? Ran away, did he?"**_ The youma mocked as she prepared to deal out massive amounts of pain to the blond senshi.

"He's busy. I'm the one you're gonna fight." Sailor Moon declared as she prepared herself.

_**"Fine by me. I'll take care of you first before I hunt him down."**_ Flau shouted as she launched an energy blast towards Sailor Moon.

Meanwhile, Jadeite stood on another level of the roof as he watched the fight a short distance from where he was. He could see the girl jumping, diving and dodging the blasts from his minion and smirked as he found amusement in her struggles. He had figured that the two senshi were the ones responsible for the loss of Morga, the first youma he sent to operate in the city, and now he wanted to pay them back for their interference. "Try as you might, your no match for Flau, Mrs. Moon." The general spoke as he chuckled a bit when the girl barely evaded another blast and was sent flying from the force of the explosion. However, he quickly dropped his grin when he realized something. "What a minute. Where's the other one?"

"Looking for someone?"

Jadeite spun around to find the white senshi standing a few meters away from him. Lunar Knight narrowed his eyes as he stared at the youma general. "You didn't think I'd really let you just stand around freely, did you?"

Jadeite smirked again. "Well, look at this. The boy thinks he can take me on, does he? And what about your friend down there? Won't she be needing your help?"

"She can take care of that amazon herself. I have faith in her."

"Is that so? And I assume you also have faith in your own skills as well. Let me warn you, little man, you are no match for me."

"I'll be the judge of that. Now tell me, why are you draining people of their energy? What are you planning?"

"And what if I decided not to tell you?" Jadeite asked with a cocky grin.

"Then I'll just have to beat the answer out of your thick skull." Luna Knight replied as he shifted his stance.

"I'd like to see you try."

"You will."

With those last words Lunar Knight lunged forward cocking his fist back to deliver a punch to his blond opponent, said man leaned back to avoid it as the senshi sailed past him. Once he landed, the senshi jumped up in the air to deliver a spinning roundhouse kick but his attack was once again evaded. Lunar Knight went into a series of punches, kicks, uppercuts and hooks that were either blocked, dodged or redirected by the youma general. The fight went on for a few moments before Jadeite spoke up.

"Give up this foolishness. You cannot defeat a general of the Dark Kingdom. No one has."

"Well you know what they say, there's a first for everything." Lunar Knight said as he lunged forward once more to deliver a massive punch to Jadeite's chin.

"Ha, you really are a fool." The general said as he dodged the strike before rearing his hand back and launching it forward in a jab. The sound of fabric being torn could be heard as the generals hand entered through the senshi's back before coming back out through his chest. The senshi's body stiffened and convulsed for a second before going limp on Jadeite's arm. The general grinned. "And you die like a fool."

*POOF!*

"WHAT?!" Jadeite exclaimed as the body of Lunar Knight suddenly exploded into a cloud of smoke. When it the cloud dissipated the general suddenly found his arm penetrated through a metal trash can. Before the general could make sense of what just happened, he felt a very sharp object pressed firmly against his neck. Jadeite looked down to find a white kunai being held against his jugular vein before looking back to find a living Lunar Knight holding the weapon.

"And you're a fool to fall for the oldest shadow senshi technique in the book. Kawarimi no Jutsu." (2)

The general growled a bit but was prevented from doing anything else when the senshi applied a little more pressure to his neck.

Meanwhile, Sailor Moon was still trying her hardest not to get hit by the energy blast from Flau as she continued to rain havoc down on the sailor senshi. Lunar Knights assessment of the area had been dead on as the roof provided both room to run and adequate cover to avoid damage from the attacks. However the senshi was starting to tire from the constant evasions she was forced to execute. As she took cover once again, she breathed a bit as she tried to think.

_'C'mon Usagi, think. How do I get her into a spot where I can attack?'_ Sailor Moon looked about trying to form a plan. She then noticed that one of the structures that had taken a direct hit had some noticeable damage but was still intact, indicating that whatever it was made of was pretty sturdy, possibly sturdy enough for…

_'Worth a shot.' _The senshi thought as she ran in front of the damaged structure before turning to face the youma. Now in position, she just needed the monster to abandon her ranged attack in favor of a melee one. With her brother's advice in mind, she proceeded to try her hand at a little taunting.

"Hey, scar face. You know your aim is as bad as you fashion sense." Sailor Moon called out with a cheeky smile plastered on her face.

_**"What was that?" **_Flau responded as she gritted her teeth. How dare this girl taunt her.

Sailor Moon continued. "I really hope you can do more than just shoot energy blasts all day, cause if you can't then you're just full of hot air. Hohohoho!" The senshi brought the back of her hand up to her mouth, completing the effect of her haughty laugh.

_**"GRRRRRRRR! Let's see how cocky you are when I run my claws right through your damn head!"**_ The youma shouted as she flew right towards the blond senshi.

As Flau rapidly closed the distance between herself and her target, Sailor Moon prepared herself for action. _'Just a little closer….'_

The youma leveled her hand at the senshi's head, intending to rip through her like a wet tissue.

_'and…..NOW!' _Sailor Moon suddenly shot to the side as Flau came streaking in and stabbing into the structure right where the senshi stood, the impact from the youma causing the entire frame to crater as her arm penetrated the metal. Sailor Moon skidded to a halt as she looked back to the youma who suddenly found herself in a little predicament. Due to the force of the impact as well as her arm penetrating the metal, Flau was now stuck.

_**"Ugh…..I….can't…..get it….out."**_ The youma grunted as she struggled to free herself from the warped structure.

Sailor Moon smiled as she saw that her plan had worked beautifully. No one can call her an idiot now. "Now's my chance." The girl said as she pulled her tiara off her head, converted it into an energy disk and prepared to launch her attack.

"Moon Tiara Action."

Sailor Moon launched the disk which sailed through the air straight and true. Flau managed to see the attack being launched and doubled her efforts to dislodge her arm. With one final good pull she was able to release her appendage from the metal in time to avoid the disk by jumping straight up.

_**"HA! You missed."**_ Flau smirked as she just managed to dodge the proverbial bullet.

"I'm not done yet!" Sailor Moon declared as she brought her arm up and over her chest, using the gesture and her energy to redirect the flying disk back on target. "Heads up."

Flau quickly turned around only to find the very disk she just avoided flying right back at her. The youma's eyes widened as the disk made contact with her and in a brief moment completely bisected her. The body of the youma stayed suspended in mid-air for a second before it instantly dissolved into dust.

Sailor Moon caught her tiara before she started to jump up and down in celebration of her victory. "I DID IT!" The excited girl cried out.

Back with Lunar Knight, the shadow senshi witnessed the fall of the youma as he smiled under his mask. _'You did great, Neechan.' _"It looks like your youma just got dusted. Game's up, Jadeite. You've lost."

Jadeite growled deeply as he witnessed his minion get destroyed by the sailor senshi, with the defeat of Flau his plans were effectively undone. Now he would have to return to the Dark Kingdom and face the fury of Queen Beryl for his failure. "You may have defeated Flau, but you have not defeated me, Lunar Knight." The youma general spat as he started to think of a way out of his captivity.

"Not from where I'm standing. Surrender. Your plans are finished."

"Oh, my plans are not finished, shadow senshi. In fact…..they have only just begun." Jadeite declared as he suddenly grabbed Lunar Knights arm before sending a massive amount of electrical energy through his captures body.

Lunar Knight suddenly felt like he had just been stuck with a exposed electrical wire and was now being subjected to what felt like the entire power supply of Tokyo.

"Gurrrahhhhh!"

The senshi's body convulsed under the effect of the energy, forcing him to let go of the kunai in his hand. With is life no longer in immediate danger, the youma general quickly spun around and placed a hand on the senshi's chest. Concentrating some of his power into the palm of his hand, Jadeite created a pulse of energy that rippled across Lunar Knights body, sending the senshi flying through the air as he fell to the level his sister was currently on, his body bouncing a few times off the roof before skidding to a halt.

"LUNAR KNIGHT!" Sailor Moon cried out as she witnessed her brother being shot through the air and landing rather violently on the roof she was on. The sailor senshi sprinted over to the fallen hero and fell to her knees by his side. "Are you alright?" She asked as she looked him over.

Lunar Knight grunted as he still felt the residual energy still coursing through his body. On top of being electrocuted he now felt as though he had been hit with a sledge hammer and sent flying like a baseball from a home run hit. In other words….

That really f**king hurt!

As Sailor Moon continued to look over the fallen senshi, Jadeite suddenly appeared a few meters away with a very cocky look on his face. It served the senshi right for daring to fight and attempt to harm one of the four generals of the Dark Kingdom. "Not so confident now, are you Mr. Knight." The general spoke as he ripped the trash can still attached to his arm away.

Sailor Moon quickly got to her feet and between the two men. "You leave him alone!" The sailor senshi shouted as she grabbed her tiara again and launched the disk at the general. The man just continued to grin as he lifted his hand and focused his energy on the disk, causing it to stall in mid-flight. "Oh no, my tiara." Sailor Moon gasped out as she watched her weapon fall harmlessly to the rooftop.

Jadeite started to make slowly stalk towards the two senshi, one powerless and the other injured. "Now, I will finish you both."

Sailor Moon began to shake as she watched the man move towards them while Lunar Knight tried desperately to shake off the paralysis from the energy so he could defend them. It would seem that there was no hope for the two heroes.

However, their salvation would come in the form a red rose, one that seemed to fly in out of nowhere and stick to the rooftop directly in front of the general. As Jadeite stepped backwards, a new voice echoed around the area.

"Do not give in to despair, Sailor Moon. You are never alone in this fight."

From atop of the roof's highest level, a new figure appeared. A figure who wore a tuxedo, a top hat, a cape and a white mask across his eyes now stared down upon the group. His eyes were fixed upon the general as if daring him to make another move against the senshi. Sailor Moon had managed to retrieve her tiara and now stood poised once again for attack while Lunar Knight was finally able to shrug off the effects of the energy and was once more on his feet, ready for action as he drew another kunai from his pouch.

Jadeite suddenly found himself in a very unfavorable position as he looked around gauging the three heroes now ready for battle. With the appearance of a third opponent he could ill afford to be drawn into a lengthily battle as his powers had already been taxed from the fight before. So this left the general with only one option. Withdrawal.

"This is not the last you will see of me. I will return." With those parting words, the general teleported off of the roof and reappeared in front of a large black portal in the sky before he was pulled inside the hole and vanished.

With the fight finally over, the two senshi relaxed and assessed the damage done. Sailor Moon moved quickly to her brother's side as he was still a little dazed from the shock and blow he received earlier. "Are you hurt?" The sailor senshi spoke with a bit of worry in her voice. She had never seen her brother take such a ferocious hit before and it really scared her to think that he had been badly injured.

The masked senshi just sighed a bit as he looked back to his sister. "Just my pride." He let out a grunt of pain as he held the side of his chest. "…and a few ribs."

"Sailor Moon."

The attention of the two senshi were turned to the masked man standing above them. "It would seem that you are in good hands now." The man turned his attention to the other masked hero of the group. "Young man, you have fought bravely against the forces of darkness. Might I have the honor of knowing your name?"

Lunar Knight took a step forward before replying. "Is it not considered polite to give your name before asking someone for theirs?"

The man looked intently at the white senshi before nodding. "I am Tuxedo Kamen, my friend."

"Lunar Knight."

"Very well then, Lunar Knight, I leave Sailor Moon in your capable hands. Until next we meet."

With that Tuxedo Kamen jumped away from the roof and disappeared into the night.

Sailor Moon stared at the spot where the masked kamen disappeared as a blush made its way across her face. "Wow, what a mysterious and handsome guy. Tuxedo Kamen." The girl stood there with a love-struck look on her face while Lunar Knight stared at her for a second before shaking his head. It was around this time that Luna finally rejoined the group.

"Are you two alright? That was quite the battle."

The two senshi turned to her as Lunar Knight answered her question. "I'm alright, Luna, although I'm probably going to be a little sore in the morning." The boy held his side as he felt a slight twinge of pain.

Luna nodded as she spoke. "I can imagine, that was quite a hit you took. I must say that it was a bit reckless of you to fight that general on your own."

"Well, it was either that or have him enter the fight at an inconvenient time. If he had jumped in while we were fighting the youma, we would have probably been seriously injured, or worse. Plus, I needed to measure his strength, and believe me, he packs a punch."

The two females couldn't help but to agree with that statement after having witnessed Lunar Knights unscheduled flight across the roof. Jadeite was definitely a foe they had to be careful around. With that said, Lunar Knight decided it was time to call it a night and the trio made their way home.

- Juuban Junior High School - Next Morning -

The next day everything seemed to have returned to normal. After destroying the youma all of the flower brooches just upped and burned away, allowing everyone who was sleeping to wake up. Mrs. Haruna returned to teaching her class and was making up for lost time by increasing the study load for the students. She wasn't letting them get away with not studying while she had her little cat nap. While the class was knee deep in their studies, Usagi was currently using her time to doodle a picture of Tuxedo Kamen on a sheet of paper. She looked at the picture and sighed, she was really looking forward to seeing the masked man again. Unfortunately for her a certain red headed teacher walked up to her and spoke.

"Well, it seems that you might not have time for my class but you have time for art, Usagi." Mrs. Haruna spoke as she leaned on the girls desk, a smile present on her face.

Usagi jumped as she realized she was caught. "Ah…well…you see…..I…..uh…."

"If you have time for that then you'll have time later for some extra homework that will be due first thing in the morning."

Usagi panicked as she tried to come up with an excuse, but quickly realized that she couldn't say anything so she hung her head in defeat and cried a bit. Naruto watched her sister's antics and couldn't help but shake his head. That sister of his never seems to learn.

- To be continued -

- Omake - A fate worse than death -

"Ha, you really are a fool." The general said as he dodged the strike before rearing his hand back and launching it forward in a jab. The sound of fabric being torn could be heard as the generals hand entered through the senshi's back before coming back out through his chest. The senshi's body stiffened and convulsed for a second before going limp on Jadeite's arm. The general grinned. "And you die like a fool."

*POOF!*

"WHAT?!" Jadeite exclaimed as the body of Lunar Knight suddenly exploded into a cloud of smoke. When it the cloud dissipated the general suddenly found his arm penetrated through a metal trash can. As the general stared at the trash bin his arm had penetrated, he failed to notice Lunar Knight crouched down behind him with his hands together, fingers interlocked except for his two index fingers that were both extended together. It looked like the shadow senshi was about to execute a extremely powerful jutsu.

Flau was still blasting away at Sailor Moon when she noticed what was going on and tried to warn her master._** "My lord, behind you."**_

"Huh?" The youma general looked up to Flau in confusion.

"Too late." The masked senshi said as he executed his move. With big stars in his eyes the boy launched himself towards his opponent.

"Kage no Senshi Himitsu Yubi-Jutsu."

The senshi launched his hands forward, right into the man's posterior.

*THUMP!*

Jadeites eyes suddenly went extremely wide as his face turned a bright red and sweat began to pour down his face.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHH!"

The general screamed in pain as he sudden launched forward, grabbing his ass as he sailed through the air.

"Sennen Goroshi!" (3)

Jadeite landed face first on the roof and quickly passed out from the pain. Flau, sailor Moon and Luna, who had arrived just in time to watch the event take place, all had their jaws hanging down as they stared in disbelief of what had just happened.

Lunar Knight stood up with his hands still locked together as he gave a big eye smile.

"Ah, I love pranks."

- End -

[Author's Notes]

Man, took a lot longer to write this one then I intended, stupid rotating work schedule. As you can see, I've introduced Naruto's ninja gear as well as his basic jutsu's that he will be using throughout the story. The current level of abilities are basic genin level, so you won't be seeing him throwing around any high powered abilities just yet. I know I talked about giving him senshi powers earlier but I'm debating on whether for him to have it now or have him acquire it later. Not to mention figuring out what kind of attack it will be. Honestly, I never realized that coming up with a suitable attack could be so hard. I appreciate the comments and reviews you guys are giving me as it is what is driving me to write the story. Please continue to read and review.

(1) Transformation Technique - Where Usagi has her Lunar Pen, Naruto has his henge to disguise himself. I also added a bit of info that explained the pens origin for the story.

(2) Body Replacement Technique - Naruto is able to switch himself with an object in order to avoid damage and also confuse his enemies.

(3) Shadow Senshi Secret Finger Technique, One Thousand Years of Death - Need I say more?

Next Chapter - Usagi finds out that she's put on a bit of weight and decides to burn it off with some old fashion exercise. When she goes to a new gym that has opened up that promises to bring beauty to woman, she finds her teacher Haruna there as well. But why does she look so frail? What is the owner hiding in the basement? And Why does Naruto have to show off in front of all the girls? Find out next chapter - Rumble at the gym, Usagi overweight?

Peace.


	4. Rumble at the Gym, Usagi Overweight?

Chapter Four: Rumble at the Gym, Usagi Overweight?

Beta by Alteris

It was another night at the Tsukino house as everyone was doing their evening routine; Kenji was sitting in his chair watching the evening news, Ikuko reading a good romance novel sitting beside him, Shingo in his room hammering away on his Nintendo DS while Naruto was in his own room reading the latest volume of Bleach. Who would have thought at the beginning of the series that a story of a substitute shinigami fighting evil spirits called hollows would become such a sensation. Both the boy and his sister had every volume of the series that had been released as well as quite a few of the animated movies that had come out since both of them were big fans of the series. And speaking of his sister, Usagi at the time was relaxing in the bath tub after another long day of school. As she soaked in the warm water her mind drifted as she recalled everything that had happened to her and her brother. The two of them had lived a fairly normal life before the night that Luna came into their lives and changed it forever, but even before then things had always been interesting with the whiskered blond boy in the family. Despite the fact that it had been nine years since the incident, she could still remember when they had found the boy half-dead on the sidewalk that rainy day, and it was to her absolute delight that he was adopted into the family. Not only did she have a sibling her age that she could play with, but it also gave her someone she could tell her secrets to as well as someone who would lend her an ear for when she was troubled or a shoulder when she needed to cry. His presence in her life was an absolute blessing to the girl and she honestly could not imagine life without him, he was that special.

_'I'm so glad to have him as a brother.' _The girl thought as she laid in the tub, allowing the warmth of the water to penetrate her skin and sooth her muscles. A few minutes later she decided that it was time to get out, less her body becomes a prune. After leaving the tub and drying herself a bit, Usagi wrapped a pink towel around her slim frame and walked over to a scale she had prepared before her bath.

"OK, time to weigh in." The girl spoke as she stepped on the scale.

Meanwhile, Luna was walking through the house as she headed for a particular room to see one of her wards. Once she arrived, she gently nudged the door open and slipped inside. Naruto lay on his bed as he read the manga he had gotten earlier.

"Wow, and I thought that Ichigo was bad-ass before with his Bankai, with that vizard mask he's even more so." The boy said out load as he flipped another page of Bleach.

Luna jumped up on the bed and observed the blond for a moment before speaking. "Are you reading that manga again? I swear, you and your sister are the worst when it comes to reading that stuff."

"Hey, don't knock it 'till you try it. Besides, I can't help it if it's so damn addictive." Naruto spoke as he continued to scan the images in the book.

Luna shook her head. "At least tell me you got your homework finished before you started reading."

Naruto pointed with his thumb towards the book bag lying on his desk. "I finished it a little while ago so there isn't anything to worry about Luna."

Luna let out a small sigh. "Alright then. I only wished that your sister would prioritize her studies, it would make things easier on everyone."

"Hehe, yeah it would, but we all have our own little flaws, one of hers just happens to be schoolwork." Naruto spoke with a smirk of amusement.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The sound of Usagi screaming drew the immediate attention of the cat and boy, as well as everyone in the house. By the time Luna spun around, a orange and yellow blur shot past her and out the door. Luna blinked for a sec before looking back at where Naruto had been only to see the book that he had been reading spinning in the air, seemingly defying gravity for a moment before it fell down on the bed. Luna turned back to the door with a look of surprise on her face. "Oh my."

Naruto literally flew down the hallway to the bathroom where the sound of the scream emanated from and without even thinking he grabbed the door, threw it open and rushed in. "Usagi-neechan, are you alrig-AGHHHH!" The boy's face suddenly went red as he quickly placed his hands over his eyes. Usagi had apparently fallen down to the floor after her scream, but when she did the towel had come loose and pooled around her, as such Naruto had been greeted to the sight of his sister's modest B-cup breasts before closing his eyes.

"WAAAHHHHH! I'm a total fatso." Usagi cried out as she continued to sit on the floor, not even realizing she was exposed.

"Neechan. Please, cover yourself!" Naruto all but screamed out as he was trying to make his sister protect what was left of her modesty.

"Huh?" Usagi blinked as she finally noticed Naruto's presence and after finally registering the boy's words, she looked down to see that her 'girls' were out in view. With her face suddenly imitating a tomato, the girl fumbled a bit as she grabbed her towel and covered her chest, just in time for the rest of the family to pop their heads in.

"Oh my." Were the words of Ikuko as she covered her mouth with one of her hands, seeing the situation that her two eldest children were in.

A short time later the whole family had gathered around the kitchen table as both Naruto and Usagi were still sporting fairly pink cheeks from the incident that happened in the bathroom.

"Well, I hope this teaches you to not just go running into the bathroom when someone else is in there, Naruto." Ikuko lectured while Naruto just nodded a bit, still feeling embarrassed for seeing Usagi nude, clearly this time. He was just thankful he didn't catch sight of his sister's other part.

"Anyway, what was all that screaming about, Usagi? You had us all jumping from your cry." Ikuko asked looking at her daughter with a bit of concern.

Naruto turned to his sister. "Yeah, neechan. I heard you in there saying something about being a fatso..?" The boy simply couldn't believe that statement for a moment. Usagi neither now or once ever had a single ounce of fat on her body, well except for the obvious places pertaining to the female physique but that was beside the point. She was the definition of 'slim' for girls. He simply could not think of anything that would make her believe she was fat.

"I gained half a pound."

"….."

"Neechan, are you telling me you freaked out just because you gained half a pound?"

The girl nodded a bit sheepishly.

"I hate to say, I mean I really hate to say it, but there are times when you overreact to the most ridiculous of things." Naruto said as he shook his head.

Kenji nodded in agreement with his son's statement. "I have to agree with Naruto there. You know, Usagi, your only fourteen years old, you're still growing, so it's only natural that you might be gaining some weight here and there."

Shingo decided to add his two cents in on the conversation. "Yeah sis, it's just half a pound, I'm sure you'll work it off…on your frantic dash to school tomorrow." The boy finished with a cocky grin.

Usagi became a little upset as her eyes started to tear up. "Uuuuhhh, none of you care." And with that the blond girl proceeded to cry, anime style.

Naruto, despite his urge to comfort his sister, could only look at her and shake his head again. There were times when she would act so childish and the boy knew that she needed to act a little more mature and learn not to cry over every little thing.

Later, Usagi sat inside her room as she thought over what had happened. She didn't get a single bit of sympathy from her family. Even Naruto, whom she knew would never leave her in times of pain, had all but ignored her plight. How can they not understand that for a young girl like her gaining weight was a disaster? As she sat there gazing at the moon through the window, Luna, who had been sitting beside the girl drawing on a piece of paper with a pink crayon, spoke to the young moon senshi.

"Usagi, are you still upset about that half pound you gained?"

The cat had overheard the entire conversation and had to keep herself from face faulting at how ridiculous the whole situation was. A half pound. Eight ounces. You gain at least that much weight every time you eat. And this girl was making a huge fuss over it? Seriously.

Usagi simply responded to the question with a nod.

"And now you're going on a diet?"

After having her crying fit, the girl announced to the whole family that she was immediately undergoing a strict diet, meaning she was going to skip meals, which in no way is actually considered a diet.

The girl nodded again before she noticed what the cat was doing. With her curiosity peaked, she asked. "What are you doing there, Luna."

The cat, whom had decided to make a joke out of the girls worries, had drawn a picture of Usagi as Sailor Moon, only a heck of a lot chubbier. Luna showed the picture of the oversized senshi to the girl and responded with a Cheshire grin. "Just drawing a picture of my favorite hero.

Usagi apparently didn't see the cat's humor as she huffed at her guardian.

- Negaverse - Dark Kingdom -

Queen Beryl sat upon her throne as she waited for her subordinate Jadeite to bring news on the progress of her plan. After his second failure to harvest energy the queen herself decided to take matters into her own hands, coming up with a plan that was guaranteed to succeed in harvesting the humans' energy. After issuing her orders to Jadeite she sent the general on his way, but not before firmly warning him not to fail again or there would be dire consequences.

"Jadeite, what news have you to report?" Queen Beryl spoke sensing the presence of her general appearing in the throne room.

An image of Jadeite appeared before the queen and bowed. "My queen, I have excellent news. Your plan is going perfectly. I must say that you have tapped into an almost limitless energy source."

"Yes, humans are so vain, spending precious time and energy on their appearances."

"Indeed, they partake in such frivolous activities like dieting and fitness. We shall harvest the energy they expel for the revival of Queen Metalia."

"Yes. Continue with the operation, Jadeite. And remember, do not fail me again." Queen Beryl spoke as Jadeite bowed once more before vanishing.

- Juuban Junior High School -

Lunchtime at Juuban Junior High and Usagi sat with her friend Naru and a couple of other girls from the class. Usagi was true to her word as she had skipped both breakfast and lunch as she attempted to burn fat by not taking in any more calories. As the group of friends sat together they talked about the usual girl things when the subject of dieting came up.

"So you started on a diet, Usagi?" Naru asked when the girl told the group about her 'supposed' weight problem. Usagi responded to the question with a quick nod.

One of the two other girls, a chubby girl with short curly brown hair named Ayumi, decided to join in on this particular topic. "You know, my mother says that girls our age should never go on a diet."

"But we're all fourteen." The other girls all spoke. From the way they responded it would seem that the girls thought they were all adults already.

Chika, a slim girl with black bob cut hair and final member of the group, turned to Usagi with a smile. "You know, I just started on a diet as well."

"Does that mean you're also going to totally stop eating?" Naru asked a little surprised that the girl was also trying to get lean...er.

"That's right."

"But that's really bad for you." Ayumi spoke up once again. "If you want to lose weight cut the junk. All those ice cream sandwiches, potato chips, cakes and pies." The poor girl couldn't help but salivate from thinking of all those yummy foods.

"What a sacrifice." The group all chorused as they thought about going without their favorite foods.

"A sacrifice it may be, but it is the best way to lose weight."

The group of girls all turned to where the new voice originated from and found a familiar whisker faced blond boy walking towards them. "Hiya girls."

"Naruto." The girls were pleasantly surprised to see the boy joining them if the blush on their faces was anything to go by.

"What are you doing here, Naruto-nii?" Usagi asked as Naruto sat down with the group.

"Looking for you. After the lunch bell rang you took off without eating. I noticed that you also skipped breakfast so I was wondering if you were alright?"

"I'm fine. I'm just on my diet, remember?"

Naruto shook his head. "I thought I told you before, you don't need to go on a diet, neechan. And if you did, starving yourself is not the way to go. If you're going to diet, then you need to eat properly and cut the junk food just like your friend said."

Usagi just huffed and sent a small glare at her brother. "I'm not going to take dieting advice from someone who can eat six cheeseburgers, go home for dinner, and not gain a single ounce of weight."

"You did WHAT?!" The girls cried out. It was amazing enough to hear that the boy was able to put that much food away in a single sitting, but to not gain any weight from it?

Naruto held his hands up in defense. "Hey, I can't help it if I have an insanely high metabolism." How else do you explain how one boy can eat thirty bowls of ramen in a single sitting and still look fit.

Naru leaned back as she kept staring at the whiskered blond. "Wow, I wish I had some of your metabolism. I could eat sundaes all day long."

"You know I always lose weight really fast whenever I get a new boyfriend." Chika spoke as she thought of her latest love interest.

Ayumi was quick to pick up on the girl's expression and asked. "Hey, you just got a new one recently, didn't you?"

Chika responded with a nod.

This got all the girls attention. "So are you gonna tell us who it is?" Naru asked as she always liked to listen to juicy gossip.

"It's Michiru."

"Motor-mouth?" Naru questioned as she recognized the person whom the girl was talking about.

Chika flinched a bit at the alias given to her new boyfriend. Apparently she had heard this particular named used on him before. "Why does everyone keep calling him that?"

Naruto was the one to answer that question. "Because the guy doesn't know when to shut-up about something and keeps mouthing off without thinking." Naruto and the guy had a few instances where the whiskered blond had to 'correct' the boy after he made a few inappropriate remarks about his sister. "Look, I'm not saying he's a bad guy, he just needs someone to keep that mouth of his in check."

Deciding that now is a good time to change the topic, Naru spoke up. "You know, Usagi, if you want advice on dieting then maybe you should go talk to Mrs. Haruna, she's been on the fitness kick recently."

Usagi perked up a bit hearing this new piece of information. "Really? She has?"

As if right on cue, said teacher walked by before noticing the group of students and smiled. "Good evening, students." As she turned her entire body was enveloped in sparkling light that seemed to accentuate the woman's beauty. "I hope you all are ready for today's lessons." And with that, the woman turned and made her way to the schools main building.

The group of students stared at the retreating form of their teacher as Usagi spoke up. "Wow, there really is something different about her."

Naruto was watching as well with a raised eyebrow having caught notice of something other than the teachers increase in physical attraction. "Hey girls, can I ask you something?" The group of girls turned to look at the blond boy as he continued. "Just how are you girls able to do the whole sparkling thing? I've yet to figure that out."

The girls merely smiled and spoke as one. "Trade secret."

Naruto could only sigh as he knew he was not going to get a real answer out of the girls.

Suddenly, Umino popped up out of nowhere with a couple of pictures in hand. "Hey, Usagi, look at these cool pictures I found." Said pictures showed Haruna Sakurada wearing a full body leotard doing various poses while exercising. "Teachers aren't supposed to look that good. Looks like she's been working out."

Usagi took the photos and examined them. "Wow, no way."

Umino smiled as he watched the girls look at the pictures in wonder; however his smile soon left him as he felt a strong hand grab his shoulder firmly and a sense of dread came over him.

"U-mi-no." The voice of one Tsukino Naruto made the young boy glance fearfully over his shoulder to see the blond haired boy with a wicked smile plastered on his face. "Tell me, friend, where in the world did you get those pictures?"

Umino go very nervous as he started to shake a little from both the look on the blonds face as well as the tone of voice he was using, both telling him that he needed to pick his words carefully. The girls also became rather interested in where the brown haired boy had acquired the photos. "I, uh, picked them up when Mrs. Haruna dropped them from her purse just now."

The boy felt the grip on his shoulder get tighter to the point where he started to feel pain as Naruto's smile got bigger. "Gee, that's funny. I could have sworn that Mrs. Haruna didn't carry her purse while on the school grounds."

The girls also realized this and sent the glasses wearing teen a hard glare, making the boy really sweat as he realized just how deep of a hole he had just dug for himself. Seeing that he was deep enough already, the boy cratered. "Alright, I admit it. I secretly borrowed the photo clubs camera and took the pictures."

"Oh, I see. You were stalking her." Naruto said before spinning Umino around so that he was facing him directly and pulled him in close and looking the boy dead in the eyes. "You know what my policy is for acts I consider unethical, stalking and taking pictures of someone without them knowing just so happens to be in that category."

"Help me." Umino squeaked out as he reached for the girls. The ladies, however, were not in the mood to help the boy as they too considered his actions as wrong.

- Gym Shapely - The next day -

The group stood in front a recently opened aerobics and fitness gym called Shapely. During Umino's little 'discipline session' he coughed up the location of the gym that Sakurada was visiting to get fit. Now the four girls and one boy, who decided to come along for the heck of it, readied themselves for a major workout to get in shape.

"This place looks great already." Usagi said as she stared at the large gym, eager to get some good exercise.

Naru nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I can't wait to get started."

"Let's go!" The girls cried out as they dashed towards the entrance to the building. Naruto just stood there watching before he calmly walked into the gym shaking his head. Girls and their antics.

From above, on the second floor of the building, a shadowy figure watched the group enter the gym, a sinister smile on his face. _'Excellent, more victims for our energy harvest.' _The figure disappeared as he prepared himself for his role.

Later, the group of girls exited the changing room wearing white sweatshirts and blue bloomers supplied by the gym and talked amongst themselves about where to start their fitness workouts.

"So, what do you guys want to do first?" Usagi spoke as she looked about.

"I don't know, where do we start." Naru responded as she too took in the sight of the gym.

"Sorry for the wait, girls."

The girls turned to see Naruto come out of the men's changing area and promptly blushed when they saw him. The boy was wearing a pair of blue athletic shorts and a white sleeveless muscle shirt that seemed to stretch around his frame, showing a lot of muscle tone.

"You know, I think they gave me a small shirt." Naruto said as he pulled the shirt downward since the shirt revealed a little bit of his wash board abdomen, while he did that though he pulled more of the fabric against his chest causing it show even more muscle definition.

"We're not complaining." Chika said as she soaked up the sight with her eyes like a sponge. Boyfriend or no, she was not going to miss a chance to see this. The rest of the girls nodded as they also recorded the sight in their minds. Usagi sighed as she watched her friends literally drool over her brother.

"Good morning, everyone."

The group turned around to see a blond haired man wearing a purple track suit and blue glasses approaching. "Welcome to Gym Shapley, I'm Jed and I'll be showing you around today."

The girls blushed a little harder as they stared at the handsome man before them. Usagi joined in as her face took on a red hue.

"Is this your first time here?"

"Ah, yes, uh, it is our first time." Usagi replied.

"Well then, just step right this way and we'll get you started." Jed said as he gestured down the hallway. The girls nodded and walked down the hallway towards the workout area. Jed watched the girls disappear around the corner before turning his attention to the blond boy who was walking up to him. "Good morning, sir. Are you here for our body building workout regime?"

Naruto chuckled a bit before replying. "Actually, I'm with those girls you just spoke too, but I will be using a more intense workout set then they will since I'm already in shape."

"I see. Well then, right this way." Jed said as he led the boy into the gym.

As Naruto walked behind the man he tilted his head slightly. _'Hmm, there is something familiar about this guy, but I just can't seem to remember where I've seen him before.' _Finally Naruto shrugged his shoulders and entered the workout area.

A short time later the whole group was busy working their bodies as they exercised in the gym. Naru was busy doing pull-ups on the bar while Ayumi and Chika were performing shoulder presses with one of the gym instructors. Usagi grunted as she worked on a rowing machine while another instructor kept up with her progress.

"Alright, two hundred more reps to go." The instructor announced and Usagi let out a groan. This wasn't exactly what she had signed up for.

Meanwhile, Naruto had just finished his warm-up exercises and stretches and decided to begin his workout by going to the pull-up bar that Naru had just used. Grabbing a hold of the bar he began his routine by slowly pulling himself up, holding for a second, and then lowering himself before starting again. Now with the boy being as fit as he was could easily repeat the motions over sixty times before having to take a break, this however was before he became a senshi and gaining knowledge of energy manipulation. Now with said knowledge he knew how to direct his energy to his muscles to both enhance his strength and his stamina, meaning he could go on much longer and harder than he could before. Deciding to not only test this ability but also have a little fun in the process, Naruto concentrated some energy into the muscles in his arms, strengthening them to beyond a normal persons limit. Now finding that the increase of strength made the exercise less challenging, he upped the routine by releasing the bar with his left hand and held himself up with his right. The boy smirked as he proceeded to do his pull-ups with a single arm.

During this time Ayumi had taken to the treadmill and was doing her best not to pass out from all the running she was doing.

"Not bad, three more miles to go." The instructor informed the poor girl, who was just about ready to collapse from both the strain and the statement. As the instructor watched on he happened to glance over at Naruto and was shocked at what he was seeing. The boy was doing his pull-ups with only his right arm, and it looked like he wasn't even trying. "Whoa!" The instructor suddenly blurted out causing Ayumi to look at what the man was staring at. Upon seeing the blond haired boy performing his extraordinary feat Ayumi faltered, causing her to fall flat on the treadmill before shooting off the machine as it was still running. Naruto heard the commotion and looked to find the girl lying flat on her stomach some six feet from the treadmill she was on moments ago and a worried instructor rushing to her aid.

"Did I just miss something?" Naruto wondered out loud as he looked around.

Soon the group was back in full swing as Naru took to an exercise bike and Chika worked on a weight machine performing a butterfly bench press. Naruto was running on the same treadmill that Ayumi had ran on while the girl decided to do something a little less dangerous and did some sit-ups on the floor.

Jed entered the area so he could check on the progress of his latest victi-ah I mean patrons. Clapping his hands together the man offered up words of encouragement. "You're all doing well. Keep it up, everyone."

Naru decided to take a little reprieve from her workout as she turned to her raven haired friend to see where she was on her workout. "How you doing, Chika."

"Almost done, I'm on my last set." Chika replied as she strained to finish the workout.

_'Almost done, huh. Not by a long shot.' _Jed thought to himself before speaking out. "Hey, you on the bike. Back to work."

Naru was a little taken back by the forceful order by the gym instructor but never the less complied as she poured on the steam, peddling the bike as fast as she could.

Naruto had heard the instructor give his harsh order and was a little put off by the guy. _'This guy thinks that he can push us around, huh? Well, time to show off what I got and he don't.'_ And with that, Naruto pumped a large amount of energy into his legs, reinforcing them as he began to run faster and faster, causing the speedometer on the treadmill to go past its highest notch, which just so happened to be twelve miles per hour. It wasn't long for everyone to take notice of the odd sound being emanated from the corner the boy was occupying and all jaws to drop at how fast the blond was moving on the treadmill.

Chika and Ayumi were both rendered speechless at the sight while Naru stared at the blond boy before softly speaking. "Wow, I knew Naruto was strong and all, but I didn't think he was this strong."

The instructors were also in a state of shock as they watched the boy run twice as fast as the average human could sustain.

Naruto couldn't help but feel exhilarated. Being able to physically push yourself beyond the natural limits of a human being has always been the goal of man, and the boy was able to do that and more. He could push himself without worrying about fatigue for a long time. He was stronger, faster, better than any normal person thanks to his energy manipulation abilities. As he continued to pour on the speed the treadmill he was on started to smoke as the machine was pushed to its limits. Just as it looked like the machine was about to tear itself apart the boy suddenly launched himself off of the treadmill, performed a back flip and landed in a crouch on solid ground.

"WOOO. My feet are burnin', baby, THEY ARE BURNIN'! I gotta tip toe, tip toe, tip toe. Haha!" Naruto exclaimed as he started dancing on the tip of his toes.

The gym instructors glanced between the blond whiskered boy and the smoking treadmill as a single thought entered their minds. _'This guy's a machine.'_

Jed's clapping brought everyone out of their stupor as he walked up to the group. "Well done, sir. Well done. An excellent display of athletic prowess. You are most impressive, sir." The boy bowed theatrically to everyone present while Jed thought to himself. _'Such massive amounts of energy within him, I must harvest it.' _"Now then, since everyone is through with their workouts you have access to the beauty and relaxation spa downstairs."

"Oh wow, that sounds great." Naru spoke as she headed to the stairs leading to the basement.

"Yeah, I could really use it right now." Chika added in as she followed the girl out of the area with Ayumi bringing up the rear.

Naruto watched the girls disappear around the corner when he realized that someone was missing from the group. _'Wait a minute, where's neechan?' _The boy thought to himself as he looked around the gym trying to find his sister. Figuring that the girl had decided to skip out on the exercises when they started to get rough (he should have known this would happen), the boy began to head towards the changing room to go look for her.

"What about you, sir?"

Naruto spun around to see Jed standing behind him. "Why don't you give the spa a try? I'm sure you could use one after that little marathon you ran." Jed smiled trying to convince the boy to go downstairs.

Naruto waved his hand as he respectfully declined the offer. "No, that's ok. I'm actually quite used to working out so I don't feel sore after exercising. Thanks anyway."

"Are you sure, sir? Your friends are probably waiting for you and I assure you that you will feel so much better." Jed continued his attempt to persuade the teen to go down to the spa area.

Naruto, however, resumed his walk into the changing room. "As nice as that sounds, I really need to go, there is someone I need to find right now. Maybe next time." The boy disappeared around the corner, just missing Jed scowl while clenching his fists. The energy he could harvest from the boy would be of great aid in the queen's plans, and having it literally dangled in front of him and then pulled away left him quite irritated. However, he knew better than to try something in broad daylight that would scare away potential victims. Oh well. He still had three young girls he could harvest. As for the boy, well, there was always next time.

Naruto finished changing his clothing and started to depart the gym when he slowed down and started to think._ 'I still can't shake the feeling that I have seen him somewhere.' _Shaking his head, he resumed his search for his wayward sister, completely unaware that the girl was still inside the gym.

Usagi had indeed decided to bail on the exercises and had wondered around until she found the gym's Jacuzzi tubs. Being sore from the workouts she took a dip in the tub. 'Man, that was tough. I don't know how Naruto-nii can do all that without being worn out.' She thought as she washed the sweat off her face. It was pretty clear that this girl was not the athletic type.

Meanwhile, down in the basement, the girls found themselves looking at an odd sight. Several clear cylindrical pods were held in place with what looked to be a network of glowing roots that connected to a large pulsing sphere affixed to the ceiling. The whole thing looked eerie and weird. (Authors note: Just the look of this room should have thrown up a big red flag.)

The girls all looked at the pods before them with concern. "What is all this, Jed? This is really weird." Chika spoke out as she eyed the alien looking device before her.

"Don't be scared girls, these are our relaxation pods. Just step inside them and in mere minutes you'll be relaxed and rejuvenated. I promise you that you will feel like a brand new you." Jed responded, coaxing the girls into entering the pods.

The girls were a little hesitant at first, however after being reassured the trio entered the pods. When the girls were nice and settled in, the large sphere above the pods began to glow brighter, indicating that the alien looking machine was starting its function. The girls closed their eyes and relaxed, completely unaware that the machine that they thought was helping them was actually siphoning there energy away.

As Jed looked on, a sinister smirk made its way onto his face while he chuckled to himself. _'Relaxation pods. That's a good one. Queen Beryl will be pleased with the progress we are making. It's still a shame to lose that young man, but we will definitely make up for it as we continue to attract more victims.'_

- Negaverse - Dark Kingdom -

Sitting on her thrown, the Queen of the Dark Kingdom watch through her crystal ball as her plan seemed to be going off without a hitch. The evil queen laughed as she watched the girls being drained of their energy. Everything was going well.

- Gym Shapley - Minutes Later -

As the device slowly powered down after completing its function, the three girls slowly stepped out of the pods and walked up to the blond instructor. The girls looked terrible. Their faces were stretched and pale while their eyelids drooped down.

"My gosh, I'm so tired." Naru spoke out as she could barely stay on her feet.

Ayumi added in her thoughts as well. "I'm totally wiped out." Chika could only nod her head slightly in agreement as she was so worn out she couldn't speak.

Jed smiled at the group and spoke. "But you should see the glow you have on all your lovely faces."

The girls brightened up a bit after hearing the blond's words. "What? It really worked then?" Naru asked as she started to think that the tiredness was a small price to pay for becoming beautiful.

Jed continued with an even bigger smile. "Of course. The relaxation pods have worked perfectly." The man lied through his teeth.

Soon the girls slowly made their way out of the room and back up the stairs, leaving Jed alone with his thoughts. _'Hmhmhm, perfectly for the Dark Kingdom that is. Those stupid humans will believe anything. And now I shall feed their energy to Queen Metalia, and we will be one step closer to conquering Earth.'_ The room began to echo with the disguised general's sinister laugh.

- Juuban Shopping District - Game Crown - Sometime Later -

Naruto had been searching for his wayward sister for some time now. After leaving the gym the boy ventured around to the usual places that he knew the girl liked to hang out at, but so far he came up with nothing as no one had seen her. Finally coming to the last place on the list, Naruto entered the Game Crown Arcade. Walking in, he was immediately bombarded by the lights and noise of the machines as customers went about their leisure. Scanning the area for his sister's familiar hair style the boy became a bit disappointed when his search yielded no result. Letting out a sigh, he walked up to the bar area just in time for the owner of the arcade and personal friend of Naruto, Furuhata Motoki, to come out from the back of the building.

"Hey there, Naruto. You doing alright today?" The man asked as he walked around the bar and shook hands with the whiskered blond.

"I'm doing pretty good, Motoki. How's business been going?"

"It's going well enough. So, I take it you're here for a few games. The Sailor V game just came in and it's already got a lot of scores on it and I'm ready to see you trump them." It was no secret at the game crown that Naruto was one of the best arcade players around. The boy pretty much had his high score in every game in the whole arcade.

Naruto scratched his head sheepishly as he chuckled. "Actually, I'm trying to find my sister. We were at that new gym called 'Shapely' when I lost track of her."

Motoki blinked when he recognized the name. "Did you say 'Shapley'? You know I heard some rumors about that place."

Naruto blinked. "What kind of rumors?"

"I heard that some of the people who go in there come out really tired and drained of their strength, in fact one of my friends came in here after she worked out there and she looked like terrible, like all the energy had been drained from her."

Naruto contemplated this new information very carefully. It sounded a lot like the incident with the radio station a few weeks ago. Thinking back now, he did sense something rather peculiar about the place, plus the man he spoke with earlier still bothered him. He just could not shake the feeling that he had met him before, but something was preventing him from drawing any recognition. It was as if something was obscuring the man's identity. Given what he had just heard the boy figured that the situation warranted him to do a more thorough investigation.

"So, what was Usagi doing in a gym, Naruto. I can figure someone like you going, but your sister?" Motoki suddenly spoke snapping the boy out of his thoughts.

"Well, Neechan thinks she is overweight, so she's going on a diet and working out to lose weight. Personally, I think it's silly."

Motoki blinked a couple of times before speaking. "Usagi thinks she needs to diet? That's ridiculous. That girl doesn't have a shred of fat on her. What in the world possessed her to think that?"

Naruto shook his head. "I have no idea. I've been trying to tell her that she doesn't need to diet but you know her once she gets an idea in her head…."

Motoki chuckled a bit. "Yeah, I know. Well, when you find her bring her in here. I'll tell her myself, maybe she'll listen to me."

Naruto smiled. Things like this have worked in the past. If the girl didn't listen to him, which wasn't often, she would definitely listen to Motoki. Finally, the boy stepped away from the bar and started to walk towards the door. "Well, I gotta get back to looking, I'll see you around Motoki." Naruto said over his shoulder while waving, a gesture that was returned by the elder blond. However, just as he made his way outside someone bumped into him. Stumbling backwards a little, the boy looked down to see the very familiar sight of twin blond meatball hair due that belonged to none other than his sister. It would seem that instead of finding her, she found him. Noticing that the girl was leaning weakly against him, he held the girl by her shoulders and spoke. "Usagi-neechan."

The girl opened her eyes slightly and spoke. "Naruto-nii, is that you?"

"Are you alright?"

"I will be if you stop moving." Usagi replied as she went limp in his arms. After leaving the gym, the girl had been wandering around nearly starving since she had not eaten very much in the last few days. She was so hungry that she was almost compelled to steal a donut from a young boy, but her dignity stopped her from committing such a dishonorable thing as she thought it would upset her brother if he ever found out. So with all of her reserves running on empty, Usagi traveled around until she came past the Game Crown and inadvertently walked straight into her brother. With her energy finally reaching its limit, the girl began to fall into unconsciousness. _'Naruto-nii, my beloved brother. May we meet one another again, in the next life.' _Usagi thought as her world went black.

Naruto became a little concerned for his sister as she completely collapsed into his arms. With haste the boy effortlessly picked up his sister bridal style and reentered the arcade, taking a straight path to the rear of the building where Motoki was busy with his work.

- Minutes Later -

"Here Neechan, drink some of this." Naruto said as he placed an energy drink up to his sister's lips. After taking a few sips, the girl opened her eyes as the sugars in the drink took effect. Blinking a couple of times to clear the blur in her vision, Usagi turned to her brother.

"Naruto-nii?"

Naruto sighed. "Thank goodness. You went and fainted on me outside of the arcade." The boy turned to Motoki once more. "Thanks for the help Motoki."

Usagi looked to the other blond in the room and blushed a bit. "Motoki-kun? You're here too?"

Motoki chuckled. "Of course, Usagi. Why wouldn't I be at my own arcade? Are you doing alright? You had us both worried for a moment."

Usagi nodded sheepishly and smiled. "I'm alright; I was just a little tired back there."

Naruto became serious as he fixed his attention back on his sister. "If you had eaten properly for the last few days, you wouldn't be exhausted now. I told you that you don't need to be dieting."

"He's right you know. You really don't need to be dieting, you look absolutely fine the way you are. You should be enjoying yourself at your age." Motoki added in with a cheerful smile.

Usagi's blush deepened as she looked to the elder blond. "Really, you think I look good." She took the compliment in a way that most girls with crushes would.

Motoki nodded. "Of course. Now, since you need something to eat to get your strength back, why don't you wait here while I whip up something for you? I could even make you something as well if you want Naruto."

Naruto turned back to Motoki with a smile. "Sure thing, Motoki. I am feeling a little hungry right now."

With a nod, the owner of the Game Crown entered the kitchen area to make some food for the two siblings. It wasn't long before he returned with two plates of cheeseburgers and french-fries. As Naruto and Usagi ate the meals, Motoki thought about how it felt to help the girl when she needed aid.

"You know, guys, there is something that I have been thinking about for a while now."

The two looked up from their plates as Naruto swallowed the food in his mouth before speaking. "What's up, Motoki?"

"Well, for the longest time now I've been thinking about becoming a doctor. It always feels good when I help someone and I've been thinking about getting a doctors degree for some time. I just can't seem to make up my mind about pursuing it or not."

Naruto thought about it for a second before he looked back to the man with a smile on his face. "If that is what you really want to do then go for it."

Motoki blinked a bit before responding. "Really? You think I should?"

The boy nodded. "Absolutely, man. If anyone can do it, it's you."

Usagi suddenly began to panic a little. "But, what about the arcade? If he's not here than who's gonna run and take care of it?" Truth be told, it wasn't the arcade she was worried about losing.

Motoki smiled at the girl. "Don't worry, Usagi. It's not like I'm leaving soon, I have to raise enough money for tuition first and then get into a university, and that is a long way off. But as far as the arcade is concerned, I could always give it to your brother."

Naruto smirked a bit as he could tell that Motoki was joking a little. Usagi, however, had sparkles in her eyes at the thought that her brother would be the owner of an arcade, which meant free games for life for the hyperactive girl.

- Streets of Juuban - Some time later -

Naruto and Usagi walked down the street enjoying the remainder of the day. After their lunch at the Game Crown, the two siblings decided to walk off the meal, however when they passed by a bakery, Usagi asked if Naruto would buy her some donuts. Naruto was a bit surprised that his sister would ask for more food so soon, but chalked it up to her body needing extra nutrients to make up for what it lost, plus his sister giving him the puppy dog eye treatment didn't help either.

"MMMMMMM, these are so good!" Usagi exclaimed as she munched on another donut.

Naruto chuckled a bit as he walked beside his sister. "I would imagine so with the way you're putting them away."

"You sure you don't want one, Naruto-nii?"

"Nah, I'm good for now."

"Well, well, if it isn't meatball head and her brother spikes-"

The two came to an abrupt halt when they came face-to-face with their mutual dislike, Mamoru.

"-Although, with the way you're eating them, maybe I should call _you_ 'Donut-head'." The man said as he fixed his gaze on Usagi.

Naruto fixed a glare on the raven haired man. "What the hell do you want, Mamoru?" The blond boy was not at all pleased with this guy. Every time he had heard of this guy, it seemed as though he did nothing but insult and talk down towards him and his sister. Plus the guy just seemed to radiate an aura of arrogance that rubbed the teen the wrong way.

Oh yeah, he really didn't like him.

"Oh, so you know my name. I'm flattered." Mamoru responded with a cocky grin.

"Flattered? Pal, your about two seconds away from being _flattened_." Naruto responded as he clinched his fist. This guy was really cruising for a bruising.

Usagi grunted a bit as she watched the two trade barbs and decided she would try to show the man that his insults would not affect her. "You can tease us all you want, Mamoru, but you won't take away the taste of these donuts."

The man turned his attention back to the girl. "Oh really? Well, how's about you offer me one of those? Or are you just too selfish?"

Usagi growled as she reared her arm back to throw the pastry projectile at the man's head. "So you want one, huh? Well here you go, jerk!"

However, her hand was stopped by another's, more specifically that of her brother.

"Don't even give this guy the satisfaction, Neechan." Naruto said as he took the pastry from his sister's hand. "Actually, I think I will have one." Naruto took a bite, enjoying the taste of the donut.

Mamoru scoffed, disappointed that his plan to get a free donut had failed. "You know, man, you can be really rude when you want to be."

Naruto smirks at the guy. "So says the man who just insults everyone around him."

"Whatever." Mamoru remarked as he turned and walked away, but he left one more parting remark. "You know, donut-head, with the way you eat things, you're gonna have to work out to lose all the extra weight."

As the two siblings watched the man leave, Usagi crumpled up the bag in her hands before throwing it into a nearby trashcan. "Oh, one of these days I'm gonna bean him in the head and it won't be with a donut." The girl commented as she glared at the spot where the man stood.

Naruto chuckled a little. "Get in line. I got first dibs on the guy."

It was then that a certain black cat made its presence known. "You know, I would have to agree with him to some extent." Luna spoke as she hopped up on top of a nearby mailbox. "I have never seen you eat so much food in such a short amount of time, Usagi. You just might turn into a blimp after all." Unknown to the two heroes, the cat had found them when Usagi fainted back at the arcade and had followed them since.

Usagi looked downcast as she realized that perhaps she had eaten a little too much food in the last hour or so and was no afraid that she would indeed start to gain weight uncontrollably.

Naruto watched as his sister began to sulk and he swore that he could see a black cloud loom over the poor girls head. "Luna, you're not helping any."

- Park Area - Some time later -

Naruto, Usagi, and Luna sat down on a bench in one of the city's park areas resting their tired feet. Usagi was still sulking as she thought on her actions lately. It was no secret that the girl enjoyed eating, sweets being a particular favorite food, and when she did eat she usually did it 'till she was completely full. Sure she would always try to limit herself when she ate, but it seemed like every time she put food in her mouth her body seemed to go on autopilot and gorge herself. She absolutely could not control herself when it came to eating.

Usagi let out a big sigh before speaking her mind. "Naruto-nii, why is it I don't have any self-control or discipline like you have?"

Naruto looked over to his sister. "What's this all about? You have self-control. Albeit it needs to be tempered some, but it's there none the less. Remember when I first came here, I didn't have any control over my temper so I ended up in a lot of fights. It was only after I started martial arts that I was able to keep my temper in check, and even then I still blow up from time to time." Naruto thought back to all the times he got into trouble when he blew his top.

Luna decided to add her thoughts into the conversation. "One thing is for certain, Usagi, not eating is not going to solve your problems."

Usagi took offence to that as she turned to glare at the feline. "I ate!"

Luna just huffed in response. "I'll say you did, you were a total piglet in there. And then you had to go and eat those donuts. Tell me; just how many of them did you eat, anyway?"

Usagi began to count off on her fingers how many she had eaten, when she got past five she began to panic. "Oh, I ate too many, now I really will get fat."

Naruto had to face palm himself. They had just convinced her that she didn't need to watch her weight and now they were right back to square one. 'You've gotta be kidding me.' "Neechan, I told you before, you're not getting fat." It would seem that his words fell on deaf ears as Usagi wallowed in self-pity.

Luna was getting frustrated with this girl. She just wouldn't get it out of her head that she was getting fat and it was taking her focus away from more important things, like fighting the Dark Kingdom. "Usagi, you need to stop obsessing so much with dieting and focus more on your senshi duties. WILL YOU STOP FEELING SORRY FOR YOURSELF!" The cat practically shouted.

"I'm not listening to either of you, I going back to the gym." Usagi declared as she got up and ran out of the park.

Naruto and Luna let out a sigh of exasperation. That girl was just plain stubborn at times.

"That girl just aggravates me some times." Luna spoke as she shook her head.

"Yeah, she can be thick-headed when she wants to be." Naruto responded as he stood up. "I'm going to go keep an eye on her, Luna. Why don't you head back home and take a cat-nap."

Luna turned to the boy and gave a nod. "Thank you Naruto, I could use one to clear my head right now." And so as Luna departed for home, Naruto began heading for the gym to not only check on his sister, but also follow up on those rumors he had heard.

- Gym Shapley -

Things were really heating up in the gym as Usagi desperately worked out to lose all the extra calories she had taken in. Right now she was pedaling away on an exercise bike drawing all manner of attention to herself as she looked like a person possessed. Meanwhile, Naruto was simply leaning against the wall watching Usagi trying to break the land speed record on a bike that didn't go anywhere. He could only shake his head at the girl's antics since it wouldn't do any good to try to talk her out of exercising. With nothing left to do the boy turned his attention to his surroundings, trying to find anything out of the ordinary.

_'Doesn't look like there is anything suspicious going on right now.'_ Naruto thought as his eyes scanned the area. Suddenly he spotted someone very familiar walking through the hallway. _'Hey, isn't that Mrs. Sakurada? Whoa, she looks terrible.'_

Naruto was spot on in that statement. Instead of the glowing healthy woman he had seen just yesterday, the teacher looked pale and worn as her skin stretched across her face. She looked like she was in a trance as she walked past the exercise area and into a more dimly lit corridor.

_'Something tells me I better see where she's going.' _Naruto told himself as he pushed himself off the wall and followed his teacher down the hallway. As he came around a corner he saw the flowing hair of his teacher disappear down a flight of stairs that was even darker than the hall he was in. Something about this whole situation just didn't seem right to him. _'Maybe there was something to those rumors after all.'_ Suddenly he noticed a very eerie light emanating from the bottom of the stairs. Silently descending to the bottom, the boy peaked around the last corner to find the supposed spa area covered in root like objects with the clear pods suspended in the center. The next thing he noticed was the two people present in the room, Mrs. Sakurada and the gym instructor Jed.

"So nice to see you again, Mrs. Sakurada." Jed spoke as he removed his glasses before grinning evilly at the woman. "I'm afraid that your teaching days will soon be over. Hmhmhmhm!"

The second that the man took of his glasses, Naruto went wide-eyed as he now clearly recognized him. _'HOLY SHIT! THAT'S JADEITE!'_ The boy screamed in his head as he backed away from the edge of the wall. Naruto was really confused now. The man he had met earlier that day was the general of the Dark Kingdom and his enemy. There was no way that he should not have noticed it before, whether it was through sight or by his sense he should have detected him sooner. Something was clearly up. Leaning out again, he focused his senses on the man once more. At first he couldn't feel anything, however as he focused harder he felt it, but it felt as a lot smaller than he remembered it. His energy was shallow, smothered, almost as if it was.. _'Suppressed! The bastard is suppressing his energy to avoid detection. He's getting smarter, I'll give him that.'_ Naruto thought to himself. However, this still didn't answer why he didn't recognize him visually.

Any more mental debating was halted as he watched his teacher enter the pod and the strange machine hum to life. He was pretty sure that the thing was not designed for her benefit. It was time for action. Naruto knew, however, that going in guns blazing was not a smart idea, especially if he was dealing with a general. The last fight he had with the blond man was still fresh in his mind, and he knew he couldn't take him on single handedly, a lesson he had learned from the last attempt. So with haste he made his way back upstairs to find his sister again. "Well Usagi-neechan, you wanted a workout, well here you go."

Usagi was still busy trying to burn fat when her brother sudden rushed in and over to the panting girl. "Neechan, I need you to get off the bike and come with me right now."

"Not now, Naruto-nii. I'm still working out." Usagi responded as she peddled away.

Naruto, not having time for his sister acting stubborn, grabbed the girl and turned her so that she was facing him squarely. "Will you listen to me for once today, we got trouble. Jadeite's here right now."

This got the girl's attention real quick. "What, are you sure, Naruto-nii?"

"Definitely, and he's got Mrs. Sakurada stuck inside a weird machine sucking the life out of her as we speak, we gotta go now."

Usagi saw how serious her brother was, nodded and quickly followed him through the hallways and down the stairs.

As the two stopped at the bottom of the stairs, they saw the effects of the strange machine first hand as their teacher began to look weaker and weaker with every passing moment. Usagi blinked as she saw the alien looking room. "No way,_ this _is the relaxation room?"

Naruto looked on in disbelief. How anyone could confuse this place with a spa was beyond him. _'I swear, common-sense seems to be lacking these days.' _The boy thought to himself as he turned to his sister. "You ready, Usagi-neechan?"

"Yeah. I'm ready"

"Then let's do it."

"Moon Prism Power, Make-up!"

"Lunar Power, Transformation!"

Meanwhile, Jadeite watched as the energy from the teacher was slowly being siphoned away as the woman became even frailer. "This will definitely be her last treatment." The general said as he snickered.

"You just don't seem to learn, do you Jadeite?!"

The man spun around in time to notice a set of white throwing stars flying straight at him. The general quickly evaded the aerial weapons when they suddenly changed course and flew towards the top of the pod that held the red-head teacher. The shurikens struck the vines that were attached to the pod severing them and causing the machine to power down, allowing the woman inside to slump down inside the tube unconscious. Jadeite watched as his device was suddenly rendered useless and turned to glare at the approaching figures which he was quick to recognize. "You two again!" The general hissed out as he came face-to-face with the two meddling heroes.

"You got that right, pal." Sailor Moon said as she started her poses. "I'm Sailor Moon, Champion of Justice."

"And I'm Lunar Knight. Protector of the Innocent."

"And in the name of the moon, we will right wrongs."

"And triumph over evil."

"And that Means YOU!"

Jadeite smiled sinisterly as he stared down the two heroes. "So the senshi are meddling with my plans again, huh? Well, I've got a special workout plan just for you two. Boys…" As he spoke, the other instructors of the gym seemed to appear from within the shadows of the room; however their eyes seemed to be lifeless as they made their way to the center of the room. All of a sudden their bodies began to grow as their muscles started to bulge up, giving them monstrous appearances.

Lunar Knight and Sailor Moon took a step back as they witness the men transform. "Whoa, they went 'Hulk' on us." Lunar Knight stated as he shifted into a fighters stance.

"As much as I'd like to stay and watch you two be torn apart, I have a delivery to make. Farewell, senshi." Jadeite spoke as he took the glowing sphere of energy from above the machine and phased out of existence, leaving the two senshi to fight against the giant gym instructors.

"Coward." Lunar Knight spat as he watched the general disappear before he quickly turned his attention to the advancing threat. The shadow senshi quickly focused his senses on the three brutish men trying to determine their strength, but as he felt their energies he quickly came to a startling discovery. "Wait, these guys are…"

Sailor Moon was backing up as the men continued to advance on them. "I really hate pushy guys. Stand back, Lunar Knight. I'm gonna moon dust them." The girl declared as she reached for her tiara.

Picking up on what his sister was planning, Lunar Knight shouted. "Stop Sailor Moon. Those guys aren't youma, there human."

Sailor Moon stopped herself as she turned towards the shadow senshi in disbelief. "What? Are you serious? How are we supposed to fight them then?"

"Easy, keep moving and DON'T GET HIT!" The masked senshi yelled as he jumped away from one of the instructors as he swung a large dumbbell down in an attempt to redecorate the room with the senshi's blood. Sailor Moon also dodged a strike as another instructor launched a punch at the girl's head. It would seem that luck was on the senshi's side as the large forms and bulging muscles made the movements of the transformed men much slower, however it also meant that they had insane strength so taking a hit from these guys was not a good idea. As the two heroes continued to dodge the attacks, Lunar Knight decided that it was time to put there more practical combat skills to use. "Sailor Moon, I think it's time to show them your close-combat skills."

Sailor Moon paused as she looked to the masked senshi. "Huh, you think I'm ready for this."

"Absolutely, just remember what I taught you." The boy had made it a point to teach his sister proper striking techniques after their last encounter with the Dark Kingdom in the event that she was unable to use her weapon in a fight. For the last few weeks he taught her how to properly punch and kick so to maximize the amount of damage she could unleash, and now it was time to see the fruits of their labor. As the instructors launched another attack, the senshi unleashed their own counter attacks. Sailor Moon ducked under another punch from one of the men as she sent her fist into the man's gut. Just as with Lunar Knight, her own senshi powers had enhanced her strength, although it was not on the same level as the masked senshi, hers was still impressive as the man doubled over coughing up spit, only to receive a blow to face as the girl leapt up and kicked the man's head. The force was enough to send the poor guy flying backwards.

Lunar Knight was also dishing out punishment as he waited for his opponent to strike as the man came down with his dumbbell smashing the floor where the senshi stood, only for the senshi to land atop the weight and launch himself forward to deliver a knee to the man's face, causing him to let go of the dumbbell and stagger backwards. Using the upward momentum, Lunar Knight spun around in midair and came across the guys face again with a roundhouse kick, sending the man airborne as well.

As the two fell, the remaining instructor suddenly found himself facing two charging opponents. Not giving him the chance to act, the two senshi jumped into the air and came crashing down into the man's chest with a pair of flying kicks, effectively knocking all the wind out of the guy and sending him to join his friends on the ground. Landing in a crouch, the two senshi surveyed the damage. "Did we get them?" Sailor Moon asked as the two heroes stood back up. At first the three remained motionless, then suddenly they began to rise like zombies and resumed their attacks.

Lunar Knight cursed under his breathe. "Should have figured it wouldn't be that easy."

The duo continued to fight the instructors, evading there strikes while delivering their own. However, every time they knocked the men down, they would simply stand back up. Becoming exhausted from all the fighting, Lunar Knight's breathing started to become heavy. "Shit, these guys just won't stay down." Suddenly he spotted his sister out of the corner of his eye and saw a threat that she couldn't. "Sailor Moon, Behind you!"

Sailor Moon, who was also becoming tired at this point, was busy evading one of the men when she failed to notice another coming up behind her. Too slow to react properly, the girl was grazed by a backhand from the lumbering foe, causing her to be sent flying to the ground.

"SAILOR MOON!" The masked senshi cried out as he watched his sister crash to the floor. He was so caught up in his sister's fight that he failed to notice his own opponent until it was too late. Lunar Knight turned towards the charging enemy just in time to get grabbed and pulled into a powerful bear hug.

Sailor Moon managed to get back to her feet when she saw the predicament her brother now found himself in. "Oh no. Lunar Knight." She called out as she started to run towards the distressed senshi, only for her path to be blocked by a couple of hulking masses.

The instructor who held the shadow senshi began to laugh maniacally as he started to squeeze the boy in his arms, eliciting grunts of pain from the senshi as his bones began to creak and pop form the strain. Lunar Knight gritted his teeth as he was being crushed by the large man. It felt like he was stuck in a vise. Cracking his eyes open, he noticed that he was head level with the instructor. With his arms immobile and as he was in a position where he could not kick properly, the boy did the only thing he could do. He reared his head back as far as he could and with all of his strength threw his head forward, smashing the man's face with a powerful head-butt. Luck, it would seem, was on the boy's side as not only did the attack force the man to release him, it also did something that the senshi did not originally intend. As the two heads collided, the silver emblem piece on Lunar Knights hood came into contact with golden head piece worn by the instructor and shattered it. While Lunar Knight landed on his feet, the man fell flat on his back, and this time he didn't get back up. Instead, Lunar Knight watched as the man's body shrunk back down to its proper size. Realizing that the fight was over, Lunar Knight looked down at the shards that were once a golden headpiece.

"That's it." Lunar Knight exclaimed, finally solving the mystery of where the men were getting there power and how they were being controlled. His attention was drawn back to the fighting when he heard his sister cry out as she had abandoned fighting for another tactic, retreat. The poor girl was now running around the room with the two remaining men hot on her heels. Moving quickly, the shadow senshi raced over to the girl just in time to pick her up and leap away from a devastating blow from the two men. Gaining some distance he sat he back down and spoke. "Sailor Moon, their headpieces are what's giving them power. Use your tiara to destroy them."

The girl was more than ready to end the fight as she pulled her tiara off her head and took aim.

"Moon Tiara Action."

Sailor Moon once more showed off her skill with the tiara as the weapon bounced off both of the men's heads, shattering the headpieces in the process. Falling to the floor, the men reverted back to their original forms. The fight was finally over.

Sailor Moon let out a huge sigh. "I'm glad that's finally over."

"Yeah, that one was rather nasty. Now, let's go check on Mrs. Haruna." Lunar Knight spoke as the two headed towards the pod the woman was still contained in. But as he took a couple of steps, the shadow senshi suddenly heard his foot come into contact with something. Looking down, he spotted the glasses that Jadeite was wearing before. Picking them up, he began to examine them. There was something strange about the glasses, he couldn't tell why, but he knew that these were no ordinary glasses. "Well this is strange." The boy commented as he looked the spectacles over.

"Lunar Knight, help me." Sailor Moon cried out as she pulled the unconscious teacher out of the pod. Lunar Knight quickly pocketed the glasses as he moved over to his sister and knelt down to examine Sakurada. The poor woman looked terrible as almost all of her energy had been drained from her. Sailor Moon looked up to her brother, clearly worried for the woman's well-being. "What do we do, we can't just leave her like this."

Lunar Knight pondered for a moment before reaching into one of his pouches. "I've got just the thing." The senshi pulled out a small bottle from the pouch before opening it and shaking out a small black pill.

"What's that?" Sailor Moon asked as she looked at the small object.

"It's called a soldier pill. They're designed to replenish a person's energy. Just swallow one and your back to normal." Lunar Knight responded as he returned the bottle back to the pouch.

Sailor Moon realized something. "How is Mrs. Haruna supposed to swallow it? She's unconscious."

Lunar Knight realized this and began to think. It seemed that there was only one option here and he was sure that his sister was not going to be willing to do it. "I guess I'll just have to give it to her myself."

"Huh?" Was his sister's reply.

Lunar Knight proceeded to pull down his mask, revealing his face as he popped the pill into his mouth. Chewing the pill, the boy grimaced as he tasted its bitterness. Finally grinding it into a thin paste, the senshi picked Sakurada's head up and pulled her mouth open. Leaning over, he placed his own lips over hers and began to push the paste into her mouth. Working it deeper into her mouth, the boy used his free hand to gently massage the woman's throat, stimulating her reflexes into swallowing the paste. After making sure that the entire pill was swallowed, the senshi pulled his head back to see the effects. Soon the woman began to show signs of improvement as he skin started to return to a healthy pink and became much fuller instead of being pale and stretched. Satisfied with his work, Lunar Knight pulled his mask back up and looked back at his sister, who was now as red as a tomato while her mouth was hanging open, staring at the boy.

"Don't tell anyone I did that." Lunar Knight told her as he picked the woman up bridal style and carried her upstairs, a little bit of pink hue present on his face. His sister could only nod as she followed the shadow senshi.

- Streets of Juuban - Later -

Naruto and Usagi were making their way back home after making sure that Mrs. Sakurada and the instructors of the gym were picked up by paramedics and taken to the hospital. This entire day had been one tiring ordeal for the two.

"Ah, man. That's the last time I work out for a while." Usagi complained as she walked a few steps ahead of her brother.

"Well, at least you got your exercise." Naruto commented with a chuckle, earning a slight glare from the girl. The boy thought back upon the whole day, reflecting on the events. There were a lot of things that the boy could have done as to avoid the hassle they went through. He realized that now that the enemy was beginning to hide their presence, he would have to train his senses to detect them easier. He also had to berate himself for showing off his skills in front of an enemy, something that could have come back to bite him, and it still could. The boy would have to keep his abilities under wraps from now on. No more playing around. Speaking of which, he was still perplexed as to why he didn't recognize Jadeite before. It was a mystery to him that just bothered him to no end. Thinking back once more, he tried to think of every time he had seen him up until he came upon the relaxation room. Every time he had talked to the man, he didn't recognize him for some reason, and the only time he did was when Jadeite was greeting Mrs. Haruna, right when he took of his….!

"The glasses." Naruto spoke as he fished the pair out of his pocket. Examining them more closely, he could tell that they weren't normal specs. Deciding to experiment with them, he placed the glasses on his face and called out to his sister. "Hey, Neechan. Look."

His sister turned around and looked at his face. When she did she came to a halt as she stared at him. "Naruto-nii? Is that you?" The girl asked as she stared at the boy, confusion evident on her face.

Surprised by the result, Naruto pulled the glasses back off his face, causing his sister's eyes to widen in surprise. "How did you do that, Naruto-nii."

"These glasses, I think they have the power to obscure a person's identity. Kind of like how your senshi powers render you unrecognizable to everyone." Naruto explained as he pocketed the glasses once more. The two had asked Luna about that particular ability as they were curious why Naru could not recognize Usagi when she first turned into Sailor Moon, to which the feline replied that it was a part of her power so that her identity would remain hidden from everyone, especially the enemy. It would seem that now the enemy was also using such abilities, if the glasses were anything to go by. Thinking on it, Naruto came to realize that he had in his possession a very useful item. Sure he and his sister had abilities to change their appearances, but it was something that they could use if they needed it. He would talk to Luna about it later on. "Well, I don't know about you but I'm getting hungry. What do you say we head for home and see what mom's cooking up for us?"

Usagi was about to respond, but her stomach beat her to it as a loud growl came emanated from the girls midsection.

Usagi blushed while Naruto just laughed. "I'll take that as a 'yes'."

- To be Continued -

[Author's Notes]

I'm really sorry about the length of time between updates. On top of my hectic work schedule, I was slammed with a major case of writer's block that held me for the longest time. I will try really hard to get updates out more frequently.

Naruto showing off his powers was something I had thought on for while on whether or not on including as it would possibly expose him. Though when you think about Naruto in his early years, he always did like to show off his skill to everyone, and I thought that it would be a valuable lesson for him when he realized the dangers of doing so in front of potential enemies. Lesson learned.

The glasses were something that I included to explain how Jadeite could hide himself in plain sight. There are many times in the arc that Jadeite was out in the open and the girls didn't recognize him, so I wanted to give a explanation for it. Also, now that the senshi have an item like that, it can be of great aid to them later on. Sure, Usagi and Naruto can disguise themselves, but what about the other girls? Huh, Huh?

Next Chapter - Naruto and Usagi are reunited with a old friend of theirs, Mizuno Ami. But trouble brews for them when something strange goes on at the cram school Ami attends. How will the two senshi save their friend? And what is the strange symbol that appears on Ami's forehead? Find out next chapter: Naruto's Old Friend, Mercury Appears

Peace.


	5. Naruto's Old Friend, Mercury Appears

Chapter Five: Naruto's Old Friend, Mercury Appears

Beta by Alteris

"My Queen, I have excellent news." Jadeite spoke as he bowed in respect to his ruler.

Queen Beryl gave an acknowledging look as she responded. "Very well, what have you to report? I hope for your sake that it is something that you can use to redeem yourself with." The queen was not very pleased with his last effort to harvest energy from the humans. Despite the fact that the general had succeeded in gathering a large amount of energy with the gym operation, he had been forced to abandon the plan prematurely when the senshi discovered the operation and interfered. These teen heroes were starting to become a real annoyance to the queen and her minions.

"I have discovered a new energy source, my queen. One that will be very rewarding for our efforts. It seems that young humans crave scholastic achievement and will do anything to achieve it, expending large amounts of energy in the process."

"It sounds promising, Jadeite. Just how do you intend to harvest this energy?"

"By using something the humans call a 'computer.' We will use their own device against them."

Queen Beryl thought about the plan for a moment before giving her approval. "Very well, then. You may proceed. Just don't fail me again."

The general gave one last bow before disappearing from the room, ready to carry out his plan.

- Tsukino Household -

Usagi sighed for the umpteenth time as she racked her brain against her most challenging opponent yet, her homework. After a berating from her mother about reading comics instead of doing her studies, the girl now found herself sitting in front of the desk in her room trying hard to stay focused on her work, trying being the key word. About the only thing that was keeping her on task was the presence of her brother, who was sitting on the opposite end of the table performing his studies as well. Earlier their mother had caught Usagi reading her comic books instead of studying like she was supposed to be doing, so after giving her another lecture in focusing on her studies, she sent the girl up to her room. Now Ikuko loved her daughter to death, but that didn't mean she trusted her to stay on task, in fact the woman trusted Usagi to stay on her studies about as far as she could throw a frying pan, which unfortunately for Kenji in the early days of their marriage found out, was pretty damn far. So she sought out her adopted son and asked that he study alongside the girl. With a little prodding and promise of ramen for dinner, the boy agreed. So now Naruto found himself sitting with his sister, diligently performing his studies while at the same time making sure that Usagi remained focused on her homework and helping her out with problems when needed. Of course, the former wouldn't be so necessary if said girl didn't keep glancing down at something beside her every thirty seconds or so. It didn't take Naruto very long to figure out what she was looking at.

"Usagi, stop looking at your comics and get back to your studying." Naruto spoke, not even looking up from his papers while the girl flinched from being caught.

"Aw, c'mon Naruto-nii, studying is so boring." Usagi whined as she was forced to go back to doing her homework.

Naruto looked up at his sister. "It may be boring but it is necessary neechan, now just stay on the studying so we can get done soon, otherwise mom won't make ramen tonight."

Usagi sweat-dropped a little. It seemed that nothing motivated the boy more than when someone offered him his favorite dish. Meanwhile Luna, whom had entered the room sometime during the middle of the session and made herself comfortable on the bed, decided to impart some words of wisdom onto the girl.

"You know, Usagi, there is a wise old proverb that simply states 'you shall reap what you sow'."

"I hate sewing." Usagi mumbled as she returned to her work, but it was loud enough for Naruto to hear.

"What she means is everything you do has a consequence, whether it be good or bad. Our decisions are the things that define us, neechan." Looking up and seeing the confused look he decided to elaborate. "Look, what we choose to do reflects the image that others see in us. To elaborate on what Luna said, think about this. Sow a thought, you reap an act. Sow an act, you reap a habit. Sow a habit, you reap a character. Sow a character, you reap a consequence. Our actions eventually become who we are, and our thoughts dictate our actions. So if you start thinking about procrastinating on your work, then people will eventually start to see you as a procrastinator. So before it becomes a habit, let us banish the thought of procrastinating, comprende?" Naruto then returned to his work while the two other occupants in the room stared at the boy, one out of amazement that the blond understood the proverb so well, while the other was just plain dumbfounded.

"Yeah….well….if our destiny is to become senshi, like someone keeps on preaching to us about," Usagi spoke in an attempt to defend her dislike of doing any kind of work, much to the grief of one guardian feline. "then why do we even need to study?"

Naruto lifted his hand to tack off the reasons. "One, we are not senshi all of the time. We are only senshi when trouble comes up, and our enemy seems to only make their moves once every few weeks. So when we are not senshi, we are civilian people with civilian responsibilities. Two, we have to think in battle. We can't just go in fists flying at the enemy as it is a quick way to die, and there may be times when I'm not available to come up with a plan of attack, so you may have to think up a plan on your own. And three, no one is going to take you seriously if they think you're as smart as cardboard. So with that, back to studying."

With all of her ammunition used up, Usagi finally relented and focused on her homework while Luna smiled, being quite impressed with the way that Naruto handled the situation.

- Game Crown Arcade - Later that night -

All was dark and quiet on the streets of Juuban as Luna made her way to the Game Crown Arcade. Upon her arrival, Luna approached the door and used a secret keypad she installed earlier to open the gate and door of the arcade, allowing the cat entry into the building. Once inside, the feline quickly made her way to one of the arcade games in the center of the room, specifically the Sailor V video game that she had tampered with some nights ago. Once there, she hopped up on the stool and gazed upon the screen. As if sensing her presence, the game came to life as the screen lit up. Once the machine was fully operational, a voice emanated from the screen.

"Welcome to the Sailor V video game, touch the screen if you wish to continue."

Luna pressed her paw against the screen and spoke. "This is agent Luna, I am checking in for report and instructions."

"Voice recognition accepted. Please give your password."

"The Rabbit in the Moon makes rice cakes."

The screen suddenly shifts to show a ball of light that constantly shifts its color.

"Password Accepted. Connection with Central Control established. What have you to report, Agent Luna?"

"All is well here in Tokyo. The Dark Kingdom has not made any moves recently in this sector. Though I have not been able to locate any more of the senshi yet"

"Be patient Agent Luna, they will reveal themselves in time. How are things faring with your charges?"

"Usagi is a bit of a handful at times, however her brother, Naruto, has been of great aid to us in the fight against the Dark Kingdom. He has shown considerable strength and skill in combating the enemy and has also shown great leadership ability and can think while under pressure."

"Yes. We have read your report on young Naruto." The screen showed a couple of pictures of Naruto's face in his civilian form as well as a full body picture of him in his senshi form. "The appearance of a shadow senshi, while unexpected, has given us a much needed edge over the agents of the Dark Kingdom as they are powerful and skilled warriors. Continue to guide them both."

"As you wish, Central."

"We also have new reconnaissance information for you to investigate." The images changed to show a young girl with blue bob-cut hair and blue eyes. "This girl is a new student at Juuban Junior High School that we have labeled as a person of interest. Our sensors have detected abnormal energy readings from her, we ask that you investigate."

"Very well then."

"This concludes our session. Central out." The screen went blank as the machine powers down once again, allowing Luna to make her way back out of the arcade and return to her home. She will begin her investigation tomorrow while her two charges were at school.

- Juuban Junior High School - Next Day -

As the students of Juuban Junior High went about their day, we find our two blond heroes chatting away with friends out in the hallway. While it was currently the lunch hour, the group was free to relax a bit from their tedious studying and enjoy a little socializing. Usagi was gossiping away with Naru and Ayumi while Naruto was content with just hanging around and listening to the chatter in hopes of catching something interesting.

"Did you guys hear about the new girl that transferred in recently, they say she's a total genius or something." Naru spoke about the latest rumor floating around the school.

Ayumi nodded as she put her input into the conversation. "I heard she transferred from Brighten Academy."

Usagi and Naru both gasped. "The brain farm?"

Naruto chuckled a bit when he heard the odd nickname for the school. He listened as Naru continued.

"Why in the world would she transfer here if she's so smart?"

"Maybe she got kicked out for being too smart." Usagi spoke as she entertained the idea of a student being too smart for her own good.

"Or maybe she needed a break from all the pressure of being a genius." Naruto commented as he pushed himself off the wall. "Or perhaps she had family issues that forced her to transfer. I wouldn't go judging her just yet until we get all of the facts. Things like that are how rumors start."

Usagi suddenly felt a little bit guilty from what she said earlier and slumped a little. It was then that Umino popped up in the middle of the group, an act that startled all the girls. Naruto just waved at the boy as he greeted the boy. "Yo, Umino."

"Hey, Naruto. Just thought I'd pop in and tell you guys the news, it seems that a new student transferred her and she came from Brighten Academy."

"That's old news, four-eyes." Naru responded as she folded her arms together.

"You're doing a full espionage report on her, aren't you" Usagi asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"So, do you have a name for this genius girl?" Ayumi asked.

The boy nodded "Her name is Ami."

Naruto's attention perked up when he heard the name. "Wait a minute. Did you say 'Ami'? You didn't happen to catch her last name, did you?"

Umino looked thoughtful for a second. "Well, I think it was Mizuno or something."

Naruto's eyes widened a bit when he heard that. That was the name of someone whom he had known for a long time, but just to make sure this was the same person he thought it was the boy asked one more question. "Does she have short blue hair and matching blue eyes by any chance?"

Umino pushed his glasses up further on his face as he replied. "Now that you mention it, she does match that description. Have you seen her before?"

Naruto chuckled a little. "Seen her? Hell, me and Usagi-neechan know her."

"We do?" Usagi asked, a little surprised from her brothers statement.

"Don't you remember, neechan? That's Dr. Mizuno's daughter, the one we used to play with when we were younger. She even came over when her mother needed to work for a while."

Usagi thought for a moment before a flash of recognition hit her. "Oh yeah, now I remember. She was the girl you befriended when you first came to Juuban. Man, I haven't seen her in three years or so."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, ever since she started focusing more on her studies, we stopped visiting with one another. Hmm, I wonder what she's doing now; maybe we can go see her."

"Hey, is that her?" Ayumi suddenly asked as she pointed down the hall, gaining the attention of the group. All eyes turned to see the very girl that was the subject of the conversation walking up to a window as she gazed out at the schoolyard.

"Well, speak of the devil." Naruto stated as he was unable to keep the smile from appearing on his face. "That's her alright. I can't believe it's been so long since I've seen her. Hey, neechan, let's go over and say hello."

Usagi nodded and bid good-bye to her friends as the two blonds walked towards their long lost friend.

Mizuno Ami sighed as she gazed out at the scenery in the window. Her day had definitely not started the way she would have liked. This was her first day at a public school and she could already tell that she was going to be in for one hell of a year. The concept that the speed of rumors was faster than the speed of light was apparently true, as the whole school was aware of her status and already she could hear the whispers of the students around her. The looks and giggles she was receiving was a clear indication that whatever they were saying about her was obviously biased, inconsiderate, and untrue. She was most certainly not a 'brain farm reject' that most of the teens around her seem to believe as she would admit fondly that she was one of the smartest individuals that Tokyo had to offer, and she doubted that many would believe her if she told them that she chose to transfer from Brighten Academy, rather than being expelled from the institution.

She could tell anyone that being smart isn't all it's cracked up to be, and contrary to what some people think Ami was not a natural genius. The girl had studied her hardest and gained her intelligence because she had a goal, and that goal was to be as great as her mother. The young girl had great respect for the doctor that is her mother, and she strived to become someone just like her. That is the reason why she spends all of her time studying. Unfortunately, high intelligence often means high expectations. The teachers of the academy often pushed her for achievements, but not necessarily in the direction she wanted. Not to mention that it was hard making friends when everyone seemed more interested in scholastics rather than socializing. The girl needed a break, badly. And that is the reason why she transferred from a private academy to a public school, where the expectations were not as high and students talked about more than scientific theorems and algebraic equations. Here she could possibly make friends, and boy she could use some right now.

As she stood there, Ami let her mind wander. She remembered her early childhood, reminiscing of the time when she laughed and played just like any other child instead of being the proverbial bookworm she was now. She remembered the times when she would go out to the park, play amongst the flowers, sleep under the sun, but most importantly, she remembered the spiky haired blond boy with the whisker marks on his cheeks that would play with her whenever he could.

Uzumaki Naruto was her very first friend. She could still remember so vividly the day that her mother had brought the boy home from the hospital completely covered in bandages. She had told her daughter that he was an orphan, and that he was going to stay with them until he could be adopted into a new family. Naturally, she immediately became very curious about the strange looking boy, since she had never seen someone with such strange looking birthmarks. At first he was very quiet and reserved, a little hesitant to socialize and interact with anyone. When she asked her mother why, she told her that it was because he was trying to adapt to all the changes in his life. Eventually though, he did finally open up to her, and it was his idle curiosity that triggered it. The boy was amazed at the new world around him, and would often ask questions about everything that he discovered. One of the most amusing things she witnessed was when he first discovered the television. The boy was in awe of the device, having never seen one in his life, and wanted to know how it worked. Though she could not answer him, she found it humorous to see him so….animated, she would put it, when he tried to reveal the secrets of the television. She found that when he did open up to her, he was friendly, caring, and nice. He also acted very mature for his age, something she would learn why later when he told her about his life before he came here. Even though she was only five years old at the time, it still shocked her to hear about how he was treated in his old home. She helped him through some emotional times when he broke down from the memories of being abused. It wasn't long until they became good friends, and unfortunately it was also the time when the boy left to live with his new family. She was really sad to see him leave, but he did promise her that he would come over and play when he could. She learned something else from the boy. When he made a promise, he always kept it.

Naruto did come to see her often and played with her as much as he could. He became a companion whenever Ami's mother had to leave for work, something that helped the girl cope with being an only child. They would often play in the parks and discover new things together, as she found that he was a constant source of new ideas and adventures. She would even go over to his house, since their parents had agreed to let the Tsukino's babysit her when her mother was forced to stay at work for long periods. This was how Ami was introduced to Usagi, Naruto's adopted sister. The girl had a happy, bubbly, and sometimes klutzy personality, someone you couldn't help but instantly like. As time went on, the three became a close-knit group, playing and communicating as often as they could. However, Ami had her ambitions, and started to focus more on her studies. They saw less and less of each other over the years until eventually she started going to cram school, something that used up all of her free time. And so it was that the three stopped communicating, and fell out of contact.

It has been three years since she last saw the two.

Ami let out another sigh as she thought of her situation. Perhaps focusing completely on her studies might not have been such a good idea, since now she felt very lonely. She silently wished that she could make some new friends in this school, and wished even harder that she could see her old blond-haired friends again, especially Naruto.

Wish granted.

"Oi, Ami-chan."

Ami's eyes suddenly went wide. There was only one person she knew that ever addressed her like that. With hope filling her, she turned in the direction of the voice….and saw a spiky-haired blond boy walking towards her that she didn't quite recognize at first, until she caught sight of the six whisker marks on his cheeks. The girl's eyes lit up as a big smile came to her face. Without even thinking the girl almost flew at the boy.

"Naruto!"

Said boy was not prepared for this as the blue streak nearly knocked him over, only his reflexes honed by years of training saved him from toppling over. Ami, meanwhile, had wrapped her arms around the blond's torso and now had Naruto in a vice-like hug. Usagi blushed a bit at the open display of affection her old friend was showing everyone while Naruto stared at the bluenette for a moment before scratching the back of his head. "Hehe, I didn't think you'd miss me that much, Ami-chan."

Finally realizing what she was doing, the girl quickly removed herself from the boy, jumped back, and started bowing repeatedly, all the while with a huge blush on her face.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Ami could not believe what she did back there. Even though she really did miss Naruto and wanted badly to see him again, she didn't think that she would literally throw herself at him. She was completely embarrassed by her actions as her face now bore a gigantic blush, which only intensified as she suddenly realized that she had felt his firm body while she hugged him.

Naruto waved his hand in front of him in response to the girl's apologies. "Haha, it's alright. Don't worry about it." The boy gave the bluenette a warm smile. "It really is good to see you again, Am-chan."

Ami's smile soon matched Naruto's. It was so good to see him again. Just then she noticed the girl who was standing next to the boy, and it was someone she could easily recognize as well. "Usagi, is that you?"

"Hiya, Ami. Long time no see." Usagi responded with a huge smile of her own. "So, you're the new transfer student we've been hearing about. This is so awesome. Now we can hang out again after all these years."

"Usagi, the way you say it one would think we haven't seen her in a decade. It's only been three years." Naruto spoke as he turned to look at his sister.

Usagi pouted a little bit. "But it feels like it's been that long." Usagi turned back to her blue-haired friend. "It really is good to see you again."

Ami nodded the smile still present on her face. "It's good to see you guys again as well." The girl couldn't be any happier right now. Here she was, reunited with her two best friends, and they hadn't changed one bit.

Before anymore reminiscing or merrymaking could be done, the sound of a bell ringing signaled the end of the lunch period. "Oops. Looks like social time is over." Naruto commented as he turned his attention back to Ami. "Looks like we're gonna have to cut our reunion short. How about we get together again sometime later?"

Ami nodded. "Yes, I would like that very much."

"Alright then, catch you later, Ami-chan." Naruto then began to head back to the classroom. "C'mon, neechan. Time for homeroom."

Usagi grumbled out something about hating schoolwork before she gave one last parting smile to the bluenette. "See ya later, Ami."

"Good-bye Naruto, Usagi." Ami spoke as she too headed for her new homeroom, only this time she did it with a smile on her face and a spring in her step.

- Streets of Juuban - After School -

Naruto and Usagi walked the streets of the Juuban district on their way home from school. The two were in pretty high spirits as they had both managed to pass the test that they had to take earlier that day, despite the fact that Usagi had just barely made the grade while Naruto made descent marks. As they walked the two siblings made small talk, the majority of the conversation being the surprise reunion with their old friend. They were happy to know that they would be able to speak with Ami again after all this time. When they passed an intersection in the road, Usagi happened to glance down the street to spot the familiar blue hair of the person they were talking about.

"Hey, Naruto-nii. Look. I think that's Ami." Usagi said as she pointed down the street.

Naruto turned his head to look before smiling widely. "Your right, neechan. Wow, twice in the same day now." The boy turned back to his sister. "Shall we go ask how her day went?"

Usagi nodded happily. "Sure. Maybe we can all go have some fun together, just like the old days."

Naruto chuckled a bit at the statement. _'Old days she says. We're only fourteen.' _Naruto thought as he started to walk towards the bluenette. However he suddenly stopped when he saw a small figure quickly walking towards the girl on top of a nearby wall. The figure was easily recognized by the blond boy. _'Luna? What in the world is she doing?'_

Luna moved quickly as she closed in on her quarry. The cat had been waiting patiently near the entrance of Juuban Junior High for any sign of the girl she had been informed of. When the blue-haired teen did emerge, Luna quietly tailed her until she found an opportunity to move in on her target. With the ideal moment at hand, the cat sprinted across the top of the wall and jumped. The girl only had time enough to turn her head to see the cat descend upon her like a lion pouncing on its prey.

Ami cried out in surprise as a black cat landed right on her shoulders. She did not expect something like this to happen and was understandably startled by this event. However, she quickly recovered from the shock as she looked at the feline that had pounced on her, which was currently staring back. "Wow, you sure startled me, little kitty. Playing 'Lions of the Serengeti' are we?" Ami asked with a kind smile that very few people got to see as she scratched the cat's chin.

Luna, who moments ago was staring rather intently at the bluenette in hopes of detecting something from her, was now trying her hardest not to purr out of contentment as the girl's fingers gently messaged her lower jaw. The cat shook her head to clear her thoughts when she realized that she was leaning into the girl's hand. _'What in the world am I doing?'_

Meanwhile, both Naruto and Usagi watched in both fascination and curiosity at the scene before them.

"What is Luna doing, Naruto-nii?"

"I have no idea. Let's find out." Naruto responded as the two began to walk towards bluenette who was talking about wishing she had a kitty. When they got close enough Naruto called out. "Luna."

Upon hearing her name, the cat turned around and jumped off the bluenette before running to her charges and jumping up into Naruto's arms. Ami turned around and smiled once again as she was approached by her old friends once more.

"Naruto, Usagi, I didn't think I'd run into you again today." Ami spoke as she walked up to the pair. "Does that cat belong to you?"

Naruto smiled. "That's right, Ami. This here is Luna. Say 'hi', Luna."

Luna responded as any other cat would.

"Meow."

Ami smiled wider as she reached out to pet the cat. "Nice to meet you, Luna."

A few minutes later, the three could be seen walking down the street towards the shopping district of Juuban. The two siblings had managed to convince Ami to go with them to their favorite hangout spot to celebrate their three year reunion. As the group walked they talked idly to one another.

"So, how was your first day at Juuban Junior High, Ami?" Naruto asked as he walked in the center of the group, Usagi on his right while Ami stayed to his left. Luna sat perched on his arm.

Ami smiled at the blond boy. "It was actually pretty good. The school is a lot more relaxed atmosphere compared to the school I went to before. I must admit, it's a nice change of pace for me." Ami was very pleased with the school she was now studying in. It felt really good for her to be relieved of all that pressure she felt at Brighten Academy. Although she was afraid that she wouldn't make any friends thanks to her status and the rumors going around about her, those fears were put to rest when she was reunited with her old friends. The girl had spent the rest of the day in high spirits after her talk with Naruto and Usagi, although she could not figure out why she was receiving a lot of glares from many of the other girls in her class. She had wondered if she had done something to offend them. (Gee, I don't know, maybe it had something to do with hugging the school hottie right in front of everyone.)

Naruto chuckled a bit. "Yeah, I can only imagine how it feels." The boy then remembered something he had heard before and decided to ask. "By the way, Ami-chan. I had heard that you got the highest score on the National Academic Exam a year or so ago. Is that true?"

Ami rubbed the back of her head. "Well, I don't usually boast about things like that."

Usagi's eyes widened in shock. "No way, you aced the National? Wow, Ami, you really are smart."

Naruto chuckled as he patted the bluenette on the back. "Oh course she is. Ever since I first talked to her, Ami-chan has always been the smartest girl I've known."

Ami developed a decent blush on her face from receiving praise from the two blonds. As the trio continued to walk, Naruto decided now was a good time to ask Luna why she jumped on Ami a while ago. Slowing his pace a little, he allowed the two girls to gain some distance between them before speaking to Luna.

"Hey Luna, I've been meaning to ask. Why did you jump on Ami-chan back there?" Naruto kept his voice low so that Ami wouldn't notice that he was talking to a cat. It would be pretty awkward to try to explain to her why he was holding a conversation with a feline.

Luna looked up from her resting spot on his arm. "I'm sorry about that, Naruto. I was asked to investigate Ami by my superiors." Luna had told the two of Central Control and their role as an information network and command center as it was they who told her to look in the Juuban area in order to find the senshi.

"Alright, I'll buy that. But what does Central want with Ami-chan?"

"They said that they detected a strange energy signature from her."

"What? Strange energy?" Naruto looked back to the bluenette who was enjoying her conversation with Usagi. Neither before when they first spoke to her in school nor now has he been able to detect anything strange about her. She was the same girl that he had befriended all those years ago. "Are you sure about that, Luna? I mean, this is my old friend Ami-chan after all."

Luna thought about it for a moment. "Well, I'm not quite sure. When I made contact with her, I didn't really feel anything strange about her. We'll keep an eye on her to see if anything happens later."

Naruto became a little worried with this information and hoped that nothing bad would come of it. Not long after that, the boy was pulled out of his thoughts when his sister called to him to catch up since they were nearing their destination. With a nod, the boy sped up until he rejoined the group.

- Game Crown - One Hour Later -

The arcade was once more packed with customers as the place was filled with the sights and sounds of people who were taking a break from the rigors of everyday life. Over at the Sailor V video game we find Usagi hammering away at the controls while Naruto and Ami watch the blond girl trying desperately to conquer the game….and failing.

"RrrrrrrhhhhhhAAAAAAAGHHHHHH!" Usagi let out a cry as she witnessed her avatar die a horrible death at the hands of the games enemies, the words 'Game Over' clearly printed on the center of the screen. The girl let out a large sigh while her brother chuckled at the girl's misfortune.

"Not bad, Neechan, but you're gonna have to do much better if you're gonna beat my score." Naruto had been going to the game crown for a couple of years now and has gained quite a reputation for earning the high scores on almost all of the games, earning him the title of 'Game Crown Ace.'

Usagi spun around and glared at the boy before pointing her finger at him. "You just wait, Naruto-nii. One of these days I will beat your score, you'll see." The girl declared boldly.

"Yeah, It'll be the same day that ramen rains from the sky." Naruto grinned while his sister glared even harder. He so loved to rile the girl up like this at times. Yes, he loved the girl to death and always treated her with kindness and care, but things like this is where he can let his competitive side out and play while playfully making jabs at the girl.

Ah, the joys of being a brother.

Ami giggled while she watched the two interact. She really could see that the two of them hadn't changed at all from when she played with them years ago. It felt so nice for her to be back together with the two.

Usagi finished glaring her 'daggers of death' into her brother and turned to the bluenette. "Would you like to give it a try, Ami?"

The girl blinked for a second. "Well, I haven't played video games for a while now." Truth be told, she hadn't played games since she focused entirely on her studies. The last time she had played a video game was when she played them with the two blondes four years ago.

Naruto smiled at the girl. "C'mon, Ami-chan. Give it a try. You used to be pretty good so I'm sure that you'll do great."

Seeing the whiskered blond smile gave Ami a bit of a confidence boost. There was just something about him that made people believe in his words. And so Ami took to the game and began playing. The two blondes watched intently as the bluenette started to rack up a decent score.

"Wow, you're doing pretty good." Usagi commented as she continued to watch.

"It's pretty fun." Ami replied as she continued to pile on the points.

Naruto smiled as he looked at his first childhood friend. He couldn't help but recall all the times the two of them played together when they were young children. The boy would admit that the girl was very precious to him as she was the very first person his age that ever showed him any kindness and concern. When he first came to this city, he would admit that he was a bit scared of this 'new world', as he called it, and was not very comfortable with all the different sights and sounds that he was suddenly exposed to. It had been Ami who helped him by explaining everything to him and allowing him to experience all the different technology that the girls home had. The television had been a rather interesting and…amusing experience for him.

Thinking about before and after his arrival in Juuban got Naruto to thinking about his life back in Konoha and that once more brought up a rather interesting question for him. When he was around nine years old he started to investigate the location of Konohagakure in an attempt to contact the old man who had helped him in his youth, only to find no trace of the village. Every avenue he had tried resulted in a dead end. There was no information on it anywhere. Library, internet, information services, all had no data on this non-existent village. Even Doctor Mizuno Saeko and his own parents, whom had tried to find the location of the town so that the authorities could punish those responsible for the child's abuse, had come up empty handed and eventually quit looking. It was a bit unnerving for him to think that he had just fallen from the sky that faithful day, but it was not something that he dwelled on since he had a great life since coming here. He still wished that he could see his old 'Jiji' one more time.

"Wow, would you look at that."

A sudden voice brought Naruto out of his thoughts as he looked around and realized that a fairly large crowd had gathered around them. Wondering why everyone was watching so intently, the boy turned back to the bluenette playing the game, and promptly went wide eye at what he was seeing. The girl was completely focused on the screen as she blasted her way through the hordes of enemies and as of now had accumulated a score of over one hundred thousand points, only a few thousand points away from his all-time high score. He looked over and saw the stunned look on his sister's face and had to wonder to himself just how hard he was thinking to not notice any of this before.

Just then Motoki walked up to the large group and greeted the two blonds. "Hi Naruto, Usagi. What's going on?"

"Hi, Motoki." Usagi responded with a warm smile.

"'Sup, Man." Naruto replied with a two finger wave.

Motoki smiled at his two friends before looking at the machine that the bluenette was playing. Upon seeing the score the girl possessed the man became shocked. "Whoa, who's playing?"

Usagi turned back to her friend. "This is my friend Ami. Not too bad, is she?" Usagi responded dryly.

Suddenly, Ami's face took on a thoughtful expression. Glancing down at her wristwatch, the girl bolted up from her seat. "Oh no! I'm going to be late!" The girl's sudden action had an immediate effect on her game as the avatar took a huge hit, heralding the end of the game.

While the crowd reacted to the finally of an impressive game run with shock and disappointment, Ami grabbed her bag and attempted to push her way through the bystanders, only to get her bag caught on something and burst open. As Ami dropped to her knees to retrieve her items, Usagi pushed past the people and knelt down to help her.

"Hold on, Ami. What's the big rush?" Usagi asked as she handed a pencil box to the bluenette.

"I've got to get to my computer course." Ami responded with a smile.

Usagi taken aback by this. "Seriously, more schooling?"

Ami nodded. "Yes. It's a special computer course that is offered only twice a week for three hours at a time."

Usagi just chuckled nervously over her friends drive for academics.

Meanwhile, Naruto stared at the spot where Ami had disappeared into the crowd. He couldn't help but feel a tad bit disappointed in how the game ended since the girl was so close to beating his own score, ten points away to be exact. While his competitive side was glad that he was still top dog in the game crown, another part was cheering the girl on as she came so close to beating him only for her to stop just short. With a sigh the boy turned back to the machine and imputed A-M-I into the high score list. With the girls name securely placed in the number two position, right underneath the name ace for highest score, the blond boy began to make his way out of the crowd when the owner of the arcade stopped him.

"Hey, Naruto, could you hold up for a second?"

Naruto turned around to see Motoki walking up to him. "What's up, Motoki?"

"I just wanted to see if you could help me really quick. You see I got a few new games in the back that need to be moved around I can use some extra muscle."

Naruto smiled and replied. "If its extra muscle you're looking for I got plenty of it."

"Great. If you would, go ahead and head for the back and I'll be there shortly."

The blond gave Motoki a nod and walked past the man and into the back of the arcade while said owner looked to see Usagi and Ami leaving the arcade through the front door. While he started to walk towards the backroom, a sudden glint caught his eye. Motoki knelt down and picked up a compact disk from the floor. Not recognizing it as one of his the man came to the conclusion that is was one of the girls'. Wanting to return the CD, Motoki quickly rushed to the front door.

- Outside the Game Crown -

"Well, see you tomorrow and tell Naruto I said bye." Ami waved farewell to her blond friend as she sped off towards her computer class. Usagi waved back as she watched the bluenette disappear around a corner before giving a small sigh thinking about how much fun it was to interact with Ami again after three years.

"There you are." The voice of Motoki snapped Usagi out of her thoughts as she turned to see her crush walking up to her. "I'm glad you're still here, Usagi."

"You are?" Usagi replied with a blush on her face seeing that the man wanted to see her.

"Yeah, I wanted to make sure you got your CD back before you left since you dropped it inside." Motoki then held up the disk in question.

Usagi looked at the item before letting out a sigh of disappointment. Shouldn't guys be able to tell when a girl is interested in them? (AN: Don't answer that.) Realizing that she was making a scene in front of the man, Usagi laughed sheepishly before taking the disk. "Ah, it's ok Motoki. This is probably Ami's since she dropped everything earlier."

"You know, your brother is going to be helping me in the back for a while so if you want to stick around until he is done, you can." Motoki informed the blond girl.

Usagi looked at the disk once more before shaking her head. "That's alright; I think I need to get this disk back to Ami before she misses it at her class."

Motoki nodded before heading back inside. "Well alright. I'll see you later Usagi."

"See ya, Motoki." Usagi spoke before she began to walk down the street as a certain cat, which had been waiting patiently outside the arcade, ran up to join her.

- Crystal Seminar Cram School -

At a seemingly normal educational institute, students were already piling in for another day of advanced learning. The only thing out of the ordinary is that a number of them seemed to be dragging themselves into the building, almost as if they had no energy to them. As the young teens made their way to their classrooms a feminine figure stood on the second floor looking out through a window.

_'Excellent. Queen Beryl will be pleased with all of these minds pouring their energy into our program. So many helpless little lambs.'_

Inside the classroom for the special computer course, the students began there preparations for the class as whispers and murmurs could be heard around the room. Ami sat down at her station and started to rummage through her bag, looking for the course guide CD that she had been given at the start of the course. She was told that the disk was a study guide and aid used in the course and the teacher had highly recommended that the students use it during their studies. Ami, however, never used it since she was very intelligent and liked to do her work without the use of course aids, though that didn't mean she never kept it close by in the event that she needed it for something.

Better safe than sorry after all.

As she continued to sort through her bag, she noticed that she couldn't seem to find it as easily as before. Crediting this event to the fact that her belongings had spilled out of her bag back at the arcade, the girl resumed her search. However, after going back through the bag three or four times, Ami realized that the disk was in fact not in her bag at all.

"Oh no. My disk is gone. I must have dropped it back at the arcade." However, this realization did not damper her spirit as she began to pull out her books and study material out of the bag. _'I'll just go without it.' _No sooner did she think that sentence did she feel a hand grab on to her shoulder. The slightly startled girl turned to find her instructor looking right at her.

The teacher was one that could be considered attractive by many. With a heart-shaped face, brown almond eyes, shoulder length brown hair and fair skin, this woman was bound to turn a few heads.

"Hello there, Ami. I am very impressed with the energy you have put into this course. As my prized student, I was wondering if you would like to lead the class today."

Ami gave a nod to her teacher. "Of course."

The teacher smiled at the young girl. "Good. Class will begin in a few minutes."

As the teacher walked off, Ami gave out a small sigh of relief. The girl was certain that the teacher would be upset for her not bringing the assigned material to class and would scold her. It was rather fortunate that she didn't seem to notice.

- Outside the building -

"Bleahhh! More School. I don't go to school any more than I absolutely have to, it's bad for my health." Usagi stated as she stared at the entrance to the building which held the seminar. It had taken them a bit of time and some asking around to locate the place, but now both Usagi and Luna stood in front of a two story building that was used for secondary and extracurricular learning. As the girl blanched at the thought of doing any kind of excess studying, and by extension meant that she didn't want to be anywhere near this place, Usagi pulled the CD from out of her bag and looked at it. Realizing that she had to go in to return the disk, she sighed.

Luna, meanwhile, was picking up some very strange vibrations emanating from the upper level of the building ever since the two approached and was very tense at the moment. "Usagi, I want you to be careful going in there."

The blond looked down at the cat in confusion. "Huh? But why?"

"I'm picking up some weird feeling from the building and it could be from Dark Kingdom activity. You never know when you might stumble onto one of their plots."

Usagi stared at the feline for a moment, doubt clearly written on her face. "Yeah, sure. I think your getting a little bit paranoid, Luna."

"Talking to yourself again, meatball head?"

Both Usagi and Luna suddenly tensed up when they heard a very familiar voice behind them. Turning around quickly the two found themselves face-to-face with none other than Mamoru.

"Oh, it's you." Usagi said as she giggled nervously. "I didn't hear you slithering up. Well, I gotta go, see ya." With that, Usagi jogged right past the offensive man with Luna right on her heals. When they had gone around twenty feet from the guy the two stopped and glanced behind them to see if Mamoru was still watching them. He was. Realizing that staring at him was only going to arouse suspicion the blond and the cat threw discretion to the wind and proceeded to haul ass out of the area.

Further down the street, Naruto walked along absorbed in his thoughts. After discussing business with Motoki, the blond left the arcade and began his walk home. His thoughts were back on his friend Ami, and her performance back at the Game Crown. He really didn't expect the girl to be so good at games, but then again she had always been the brightest person the boy had ever known. One thing was for sure to him, he was going to have to step up his game if he was going to compete with her.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when a yellow/blue blur suddenly shot by him. Blinking a few times, the looked to where the blond comet was disappearing into the distance, recognition quickly hitting him.

"Nee-chan?"

Pausing for only a few moments, the boy began to run after his speeding sister.

Said girl, and cat who had been covered in the dust cloud that her charge had created, came to a stop beside a lamppost as the air in their lungs finally ran out. As the two panted and breathed Luna spoke out. "That was too close, I was certain that man heard me talking."

When Usagi finally caught her breath, she realized that during the incident she had forgotten the thing they were there for in the first place. "Oh no, I still got the disk. That stupid jerk made me forget all about it." The girl fumed as she thought about the walking annoyance that was Mamoru.

"Oi, Nee-chan."

A familiar voice made the two turn to find Naruto running up to them. "I thought that was you running by me. You were moving so fast back there that I barely recognized you. So, why were you running like that?"

Usagi grimaced a little before speaking. "It was that jerk, Mamoru, again. Luna and I were about to go into Ami's cram school when the guy snuck up on us."

"The man almost caught me talking to Usagi so we both ran." Luna added as she finally caught her breath.

Naruto sighed as he scratched his head. "We'll that's no good. It would be really bad for us if people suddenly found out that we had a talking space cat with us. So, why were you going to Ami's school in the first place?"

Usagi showed her brother the CD she had in her possession. "Ami dropped this disk back at the arcade and I wanted to give it back to her."

Naruto looked at the disk with mild curiosity before extending his hand. "Let me see it."

Usagi complied with her brother's request and handed the disk over. The moment that the CD touched the blond boys hand his senses went on high-alert. He could feel dark energy emanating from the CD and he recognized it as the same kind of energy he felt when he came into contact with the flower brooches used during the radio station incident.

This was definitely not a good sign.

"I think we got a problem here, girls."

Usagi and Luna looked at the blond boy in confusion. "What's wrong Naruto-nii?"

"This CD is not a regular disk. I'm feeling a lot of dark energy inside of it." Naruto proclaimed, earning him gasps from his two companions.

"Are you sure about that, Naruto?" Luna asked.

Naruto crouched down and presented the disk to the cat. "See for yourself."

Luna leaned in close to the object and focused her senses. A moment later she too could feel traces of malevolent power radiating from the disk. The feline's expression turned serious as she looked back to the blond hero. "You're right, Naruto. I do sense evil from the disk. I also sensed something from the cram school we were at just before we had to run off."

Naruto stood back up, nodded to Luna, then redirected his attention back to the disk. "I think it's high time we found out what is on this CD. There is a library not too far from here with computers that we can use."

And so the trio made haste to their destination, fully intending to get some answers.

- Juuban Public Library -

When the group arrived, they immediately made their way to one of the public computer terminals inside the library study area. Sitting down in front of the screen, Naruto opened the disk drive and popped the disk in. When that step was done, the boy began to navigate his way through the computer's directory to access the contents of the disk.

Usagi looked on in awe of her brother's technological expertise. "Wow, Naruto-nii. I didn't know you were so good at computers."

Naruto chuckled a little. "Well, it's kind of hard not to pick up the ability in this day and age." The boy could not have spoken truer words. In an age where technology was so advanced and virtually everything relied on computers, it was mandatory for a person to learn how to use them. Although, the advent of the digital age was not without some consequences. With information being exchanged at such a high rate, it was almost impossible to keep track of it all. Hacking and cyber terrorism have become a common threat as a person's identity is stolen every three seconds, cyber-crime is committed every three minutes and thousands of people lose their life savings in the blink of an eye, literally. And while the World Wide Web has granted people access to information as easily as breathing, many business and organizations that have existed for decades, even centuries are suddenly becoming obsolete. Posts offices are being used less and less as messages are now being sent via e-mail, and libraries like the one the boy was in are closing down due to lack of visitors and contributors. It was kind of ironic that they were using a machine that would one day put this very building out of commission. Ironic, and sad.

Naruto's musing was disrupted as the computer signaled its user that the disk had been accessed and was starting the program. The three watched the monitor as information began to flash on the screen.

"This doesn't look much like of a learning program to me." Naruto stated as his eyes scanned through the contents of the program. Suddenly, a noise began to emanate from the computer that quickly caught the boy's attention.

"What the hell?" Naruto exclaimed as he listen to the sound. It seemed to be some kind of high-pitched ringing sound that the program seemed to be generating, which was quite an interesting phenomena considering that the computer that they were using didn't appear to have speakers connected to it. An unexpected moaning from behind him drew his attention to the two other individuals in the room. Naruto found himself quite startled when he found both Usagi and Luna in an apparent daze as both held a blank expression on their faces while there eyes seemed to have glazed over. "What's going on here?" The boy questioned out loud as he started to move towards the two. His attempt to aid his to companions was suddenly halted when a strange sense of vertigo took hold of him. As the room began to spin and distort in his vision, he began to feel a force affecting the flow of energy within his own body as if it was trying to take control and redirect it. Using his will power, Naruto shook off the vertigo and stood straight while bringing his hands together to form a Tora sign while at the same time concentrating the flow of his energy to the surface of his body. Once the amount of energy was sufficient, Naruto released it.

"KAI!"

The effect was almost instant as the expelled energy disrupted the force that was trying to take control of him. It also seemed to have the added effect of snapping Usagi and Luna out of their trance's as they both blinked a couple of times before shaking their heads.

"What just happened?" Usagi asked as she rubbed her head as she was in a bit if a daze.

"I think this thing just tried to hypnotize us." Naruto responded as he turned back to the monitor. Just then the three heard a voice speak out from the computer.

"Welcome Student, you have been specially selected to supply your energy to our great ruler, Queen Beryl. From now on you shall only obey the orders of the Dark Kingdom."

Usagi and Luna gasped while Naruto narrowed his eyes. So this was another scheme from the Dark Kingdom. "It's a brainwashing program."

"Does that mean that Ami has been brainwashed?" Usagi asked, now very worried for her blue-haired friend.

Naruto remained silent as clenched his fist. If someone was brainwashing and hurting his precious friend, there was going to be hell to pay.

- Crystal Seminar - A short time later -

In no time at all the two heroes and one feline arrived at the front of the cram school. Naruto wasted no time in focusing his senses on the building, and true to Luna's words he could feel a dark presence on the second floor of the building. "They're in there, alright."

"What do we do now? We can't just walk in there like this." Usagi asked.

Naruto turned to his sister with his fox grin on his face. "Did you already forget that we are masters of disguise, nee-chan?"

Usagi blinked before the proverbial light bulb turned on in her head. "Oh yeah." The girl then reached into her bag and pulled out the Lunar Pen.

"Disguise Power, transform me into a school superintendent."

The Lunar Pen did its work and when the light died down Usagi now sported a green formal suit and skirt with a white over coat and matching shoes. Her hair had also changed from the twin long ponytails to a shoulder length straight cut.

Naruto nodded his head in approval while he brought his hands up into a Hitsuji sign.

"Henge."

One puff of smoke later, Naruto appeared to be an older male with slicked back blonde hair wearing a grey suit and tie with matching pants and black dress shoes. With their disguises in place, the three rushed into the building intent on finding their friend and stopping the Dark Kingdom's plot once more. Passing through the foyer the heroes took the first staircase they could find and made their way through the second floor halls. Using his sensory ability, Naruto lead the group to one of the classroom entry doors. Peering inside, they found that it was indeed occupied by students, whom seem to be trying to redefine the term gloomy.

"You'd find a more cheerful bunch of people in a graveyard. This is definitely the room." Naruto commented as he scanned the class for the familiar blue hair of his childhood friend. Not seeing the girl, he opened the door and stepped inside. "Ami, where are you?"

Ami heard her name called out and quickly stood up from her seat. "Excuse me; can I help you with something? We are in the middle of class right now."

Upon seeing that the girl was healthy and alert, Naruto relaxed a little before addressing the bluenette. "Ami, come over here right now."

Ami was confused by the order; she didn't know what was going on and who the two people standing by the door were. "I'm sorry, but do I know you?"

Naruto groaned a little, remembering that his henge would work on the girl just as well as anyone else. "Listen, I don't have time to explain. You need to leave his room right now." Before anymore words could be spoken his senses suddenly spiked as a presence entered the room. Naruto suddenly saw a woman seemingly appearing out of thin air right behind Ami.

"Excuse me; we are in the middle of class right now, so I'll have to ask you to leave."

Ami spun around to the source of the voice and was shocked to see her teacher appear out of nowhere right behind her. "Sensei?"

Naruto gritted his teeth as he glared at the woman. "Class is over, youma. I'm not letting you hurt my friend! Sailor Moon, Let's do it."

Usagi nodded in agreement. "Right!"

"Moon Prism Power, Make-up!"

"Lunar Power, Transformation!"

Ami stood in shock at what she just witnessed. Right before her these two unknown people had just transformed into the famed super hero duo she had been hearing about recently. "Sailor Moon and the Lunar Knight?" Before she could ponder over the situation she found herself in any further, she suddenly found a hand grabbing on to her mouth and dragged her back. The girl glanced over her shoulder to see that her very own teacher holding her in place with inhuman strength.

"I suppose I should have expected the two of you to interfere, but it matters not. I will take ca_**re of the two of you in the name of the Dark Kingdom. Hahahaha!"**_

The woman's appearance had changed during her little rant as her body became taller, her skin turned red, her hair became an ash black while rising up to form a t-shape style, her clothes disappeared revealing a black leotard made of fur and, just like with the others, a large x-shaped scar appeared on her face.

Meet the youma, Garoben.

Sailor Moon cringed a bit at the youma's appearance. She was just about to go into her introduction when she heard a low growl coming from her masked counterpart. Looking beside her, she saw the cold gaze of Lunar Knight as the boy glared dangerously at the tall red youma.

"I'm only going to say this once. Let. Her. Go. NOW!" Lunar Knight demanded with raw hatred in his eyes. The boy did not care one bit for the youma's intimidating appearance. This monster had dared to lay a hand on one of his most precious people, and he was pissed.

Garoben simply chuckled. _**"I think not. As long as I have her you won't make a move. Now I think it is time for a pop quiz."**_

Sailor Moon blinked in confusion while Lunar Knight's face remained unchanged.

Garoben grinned as its eye's flickered. _**"This is a cram school, we want answers. What is three hundred fifty-five times two hundred sixty-eight?"**_

Sailor Moon huffed at the monster as she replied. "You're not our teacher and we don't have to answer."

_**"Times up! Too bad, you two flunked big time!" **_Garoben threw up its free hand as papers appeared out of thin air and shot towards the two senshi.

"Dodge them!" Lunar Knight cried out as the two evaded the hail of paper. "That would be a nasty paper cut." The boy remarked as he saw the papers imbed themselves into the door that the two were standing in front of moments ago. He was brought out of his musing as more papers were sent flying straight at him.

Sailor Moon was also having document issues as she too ducked, weaved and jumped over flying literature that seemed to never run out. Unfortunately for her, she had managed to put herself right into a corner as more papers honed in on her. Seeing his sister in distress, Lunar Knight launched himself in front of the sailor senshi just in time for him to pull out a kunai and deflect the razor sharp papers. Seeing that her weapons were not doing much good, Garoben decided to change tactics. _**"I'm giving you guys two choices. One, you both surrender now or two, you surrender later."**_

Lunar Knight raised an eyebrow. "Why would we want to surrender to you at all?" He quickly got his answer as the students inside the classroom rose from their seats and advanced upon the two senshi.

_**"Oh, I believe it has something to do with **_**them**_**." **_Garoben replied as the possessed student body attacked.

Muttering a small curse under his breath, the masked senshi pocketed the kunai and created his trademark hand sign. "Kage Bushin no Jutsu." When the smoke cleared there were now five Lunar Knights ready to take on the advancing horde of people. As students came into range, the five masked senshi and one sailor senshi used their skills to block, throw and incapacitate as many of the students as they could.

Seeing that the two annoyances had their hands full, Garoben turned her attention to her hostage. _**"Now to deal with you." **_The youma changed her grip on the girl's head so that she was grasping it from the back as she forced Ami's face into a nearby computer screen. _**"You thought you could get away, didn't you? Now submit." **_The youma pushed Ami's face into the computer screen as a white wisp of energy emerged from the monitor and began to enclose the girl's head. However, since Ami never used her disk she was never exposed to the programming and thus the wisp had no effect on her it dispersed. Garoben raised an eyebrow in confusion as the girl was seemingly resistant to her powers. The youma pressed the girl's face in even further as she growled. _**"No one can resist my powers. Surrender your energy to the Dark Kingdom. Give in to me now."**_

Ami struggled against the youma's strength with everything that she had. "I'll never give in to you. Not ever. Now let me go you slimy old witch."

_**"Stop resisting and relinquish your energy."**_

It was at this moment that something strange happened. The bangs in front of Ami's forehead parted as a strange light began to shine from her. As the light intensified a symbol appeared on her head. It appeared to be a heart with a cross connected to the bottom while two lines intersected it from its top at the center crest.

It was the symbol of Mercury.

Garoben saw the light and picked the girl back up to look at her head better. _**"What's this mark from?"**_

Luna, who now had a clear line of vision to the bluenette, recognized the mark instantly. "It's Mercury." the cat gasped out as she came to a realization. "That girl is one of us. Ami is Sailor Mercury." Moving quickly, the cat retreated back to the hall where she worked her magic. Performing her back flip, Luna materialized a blue pen, the top of which held a golden cap with a large ring atop. Inside the ring was a small coin with the emblem of mercury inscribed into the metal. Luna grabbed the pen in her mouth before it could touch the ground and ran back into the room.

Meanwhile, Garoben's patience with the bluenette had run out as she threw the girl down on the floor and growled. _**"Ah, who needs you anyway." **_Ami turned in time to see the youma's arm extend and shift into an axe blade. _**"You just failed this class." **_The girl shook in fear as the youma raised her arm. _**"Slice and Dice."**_

Lunar Knight was still fighting off the students with his clones and his sister when he caught sight of the youma and her actions. "No!" The boy cried out as he quickly flipped up over a charging student, landed on his shoulders and launched himself forward towards the youma while withdrawing another kunai from his pouch.

Garoben laughed as she reared her blade-arm back and brought it down. Ami closed her eyes, far too afraid to see her end coming….

*Clang!*

…only for it not to come at all.

Ami opened one of her eyes to find a white robed individual standing between her and the monster attacking her.

Lunar Knight had arrived just in time to intercept the blow with his kunai, and was now locking his blade with hers. "Ami, run." the masked senshi ordered as he used his left arm to brace his right. The girl nodded before getting to her feet and fleeing.

Garoben growled as she applied more force to her blade-arm. _**"So, you want to go first, huh? Fine by me. I'll kill you and then that annoying girl."**_

Lunar Knight grunted under the youma's strength. "Not…going…to happen." The senshi verbally countered, however with the size difference and its inhuman strength, the masked senshi was at a disadvantage.

Ami ran to the end of the aisle before turning around to watch the power struggle unfold. She could see that the white senshi was having difficulty pushing back the red youma and wanted to do something for the boy, but what?

"Ami."

The girl turned to the source of the new voice to see the black cat with the crescent moon mark on its forehead running up to her with a blue pen in its mouth. The cat stopped before her and put the pen down. "Here, use this."

Ami was taken by surprise to find the cat talking to her, but she quickly recovered and kneeled down to grab the pen. "What is this?"

"It's your transformation pen. You must use it to transform into Sailor Mercury. Shout out 'Mercury Power, Make-Up'. And hurry, you must help Lunar Knight."

Said senshi was starting to lose the struggle as the axe-blade of the youma inched ever closer to the masked hero's face.

Ami took one last look at the two before steeling herself with resolve. Accepting her new fate, she shouted.

"Mercury Power, Make-Up."

As her initial transformation began, the girl's clothes dissolved as a water-like liquid emerged from the pen and wrapped itself around the girl's torso, arms and legs. A ripple of light pulsed from her body as the liquid converted into clothing. Ami now wore the same sailor fuku that Sailor Moon has; the big difference was that her boots, accents and the gem on her tiara were blue while the bows on her bows on the front and back were light blue.

Sailor Mercury had arrived.

Lunar knight grunted as he could feel the last of his strength disappearing under the youma's power while Garoben began to cackle, sensing that victory was near.

"Quick, Mercury. Use your Sabão Spray." Luna shouted.

Ami nodded her head as she turned to the struggling pair. Bringing her hands together in front of her, Mercury formed a blue sphere in her hands before raising her arms in front of her in an x-shape while the sphere remained in its position in front of her.

"Sabão Spray."

Mercury threw her arms out, launching the sphere forward which instantly turned into a cloud of bubbles. When the bubbles reached a certain distance, they popped, releasing a thick mist that clouded the room.

Garoben was suddenly taken back when the room became shrouded in mist. Using the distraction to his advantage, Lunar Knight pushed the axe back, forcing the youma to drop its guard. Seeing this opening, the masked senshi raised his leg and heel-kicked the youma in the stomach, making the creature stagger backward in pain. Now outside the youma's range, Lunar Knight walked backwards into the mist, vanishing from sight.

Garoben recovered from the blow only to find her opponent nowhere in sight. Looking around, she suddenly began to shiver as the temperature of the room dropped. _**"It's freezing." **_The youma stated as she wrapped her arms around herself.

The mist also had an effect on the students as they stopped their assault on the Lunar Knight clones and Sailor Moon before dropping to the floor unconscious.

Garoben continued to shiver as she looked around for her enemies. Suddenly an image of Mercury appeared in the mist nearby. Seeing the bluenette senshi, Garoben attacked. _**"Got you!" **_She threw her axe-hand forward in an effort to kill the girl only to find the blade passing through the girl and into a computer monitor.

"Missed me!" Mercury taunted somewhere in the mist.

Garoben growled angrily as she spun around, trying desperately to locate the girl. _**"Where are you? I'm gonna kill you!"**_

While this was going on, Lunar Knight stood in the mist, his senses locked-on to the youma's location. His head was tilted down as a shadow covered his eyes. This youma had dared to target the first friend he ever had, lure her in, take her hostage, and worst of all, tried to kill her. His patience with the monster had run out, and now he was going to end this fight himself. Raising his head up, he revealed a pair of cold, merciless blue eyes. Giving a mental command to his clones, the four copies dispelled, leaving a slightly confused Sailor Moon in the corner of the room. Raising his kunai up in a reverse grip, his moon emblem began to glow once more. The white kunai began to glow as well, only much brighter until the whole weapon was enveloped in light. The blade extended itself until it was three feet long. The weapon now ready, Lunar Knight charged towards the youma. When he was half way to his target, the masked senshi jumped into the air and reared the blade back. Garoben was still looking around when movement caught her eye. Spinning around, she saw the white senshi bearing down upon her. With hardly any time to react, the youma brought her blade up to block the attack. Lunar Knight was not going to have any of it as he executed his attack.

"Assassin Strike." (1)

Lunar Knight brought his arm back around in a slicing motion, seemingly cutting the air itself with light. When the light faded, we find Lunar Knight landing in a crouch ten feet behind the youma with their backs toward one another. As Garoben remained motionless, Lunar Knight stood back while his kunai reverted back to its original state. The masked senshi spun the blade in his hand for a second before pocketing it back in its pouch. Garoben twitched a few times when her axe-blade suddenly broke clean in half. As the top half of the blade landed on the ground, the youma's head started to lean backwards before sliding right off the body and hitting the ground with a thud. Soon the rest of the body joined her as the decapitated youma collapsed on the ground and turned to ash before disappearing entirely. The fight was over.

Sailor Moon watched as the mist vanished and the group of students groaned on the floor. "Good, they're getting back to normal." The girl commented as she made her way over to the other side of the room.

Mercury stood where she was as she took stock of her appearance when Luna walked up to her. "Sailor Mercury, you were great. Welcome to the Sailor Senshi."

"Ami, Your Sailor Mercury." Sailor Moon stated as she joined the group. Mercury blinked in surprise when she looked upon the senshi and was able to clearly see who it was.

"Usagi, is that you?"

The girl nodded her head as the bluenette turned to the last member of the senshi.

"Then, does that mean that you're…?"

Already knowing what the question was, Lunar Knight winked at the girl while he answered. "You got it Ami, it's me."

Mercury's eyes widened as she realized that her two old friends were the heroic senshi that she had heard about for over a month. Seeing that the girl had some questions, Lunar Knight stepped forward. "Let's take this discussion to the roof so we can have some privacy. It's gonna be a long story."

- Crystal Seminar Rooftop - Dusk -

After arriving on the rooftop and dropping their transformations, the two blonds told their story about how they became senshi and their current mission. Ami took it all pretty well since she had experienced it first-hand. Her childhood friends were both super heroes fighting against an evil force known as the Dark Kingdom and she herself was one as well.

"It all seems like a fairy tale." Ami commented as Naruto finished updating the girl on everything that had happened to them before.

"Trust me, it is no story. We have been fighting them for over a month now and there seems to be no end in sight." The blond boy replied as he leaned against the railing. "We are no closer to stopping the Dark Kingdom then we were when we started."

Luna took this moment to speak out. "The only thing we can do right now is find the senshi, which we just so happen to have done with Ami here."

Usagi smiled at the bluenette. "It's so cool. Ami is a senshi and she is going to fight alongside us."

"Not yet."

Usagi, Ami and Luna turned their heads as they looked to Naruto in confusion.

"What do you mean, Naruto? Ami is Sailor Mercury, and it is her destiny to fight with us." Luna responded as she gazed at the blond teen.

Naruto gave the cat a serious look. "Luna, this is her life we are talking about, so the decision is ultimately up to her." Naruto pushed himself off the railing and walked in front of the first friend he ever had. "Ami, you have been given a great power, but it carries a dangerous responsibility with it. After everything you have heard and knowing the risk involved, are you willing to join us in the fight against the Dark Kingdom?"

Ami could see the serious expression on the blonds' face and began to think about the question. Yes, she had been given a great power that would allow her to fight, but that also meant that she would be putting herself in danger every time the Dark Kingdom attacked and she could very well lose her life. But then both her precious friends were fighting and risking their lives to protect everyone, and she could see that they needed all the help they could get. With her eyes hardening, she replied.

"I'll do it."

"Are you sure about this, Ami." Naruto asked once more, making sure that the girl had thought it through.

The girl nodded as she spoke. "Yes, I can't stand idly by as people are hurt when I have the power to make a difference. And besides, you guys need all the help you can get."

Naruto stared at the girl for a second before grinning at the girl's resolve. "Well then, all I can say is welcome aboard, Ami." The blond then stepped forward and embraced the bluenette in a hug. Said girl stood there blushing before she smiled and returned the hug.

Usagi and Luna couldn't help but smile at the warm scene in front of them. After a few seconds Usagi spoke up. "So, Ami, now that we are all back together again, would you mind helping me with my homework?"

The three remaining individuals sweat dropped. Leave it to Usagi to ruin the moment.

- To Be Continued -

[Author's Notes]

First off, I am so sorry that it took me so long to update, but life can be unpredictable at times. First off was the holiday season, and when you work in retail it can be really time consuming. Second is that I just recently got promoted so I had to go through training for a while, which I am still not done with. And third is a family emergency where I had to go out of state for a week and couldn't work on the story while I was there. But now I was able to get the chance to work on it and can upload the newest chapter, so I hope you enjoy it.

As you can see, Ami is a little bit different in this story than she was in canon. While she is still a bookworm, she is far more outgoing thanks to Naruto's influence in her early life. As one could see in the manga, you are not going to hang around Naruto without changing for the good. Naruto has picked up a rival for his spots at the arcade with Ami's skill going against Naruto's luck. Who will win?

(1) Assassin Strike - One of Naruto's senshi-based abilities, the senshi is able to encase his kunai in energy that is able to cut thru any material. As a sure-kill attack, its only drawback is that unlike the sailor senshi who have ranged attacks, Naruto must be within striking distance of his target. So, if you are able to evade the blow, you have nothing to fear. If you can't avoid it, well, been nice knowing you.

Next Chapter - The senshi celebrate their reunion with a little trip to the mall, where they find some strange clocks in a newly opened store. But what happens when suddenly everyone seems to be going crazy. And what's this? Usagi actually got to school early? Is the world coming to an end? Find out in the next chapter - Trouble with Time, Racing against the Clock.

Peace.


End file.
